Yu-Gi-Oh! Mark of Death
by ThatLoneAvenger
Summary: An all-original story: Mike Harper returns to his home city of County Dame, reuniting him with his friends and the love of his life after having survived two hellish years out in the desert. But despite how desperately he longs to return to a life of normalcy, how can he hope to escape the ghosts of his past when they somehow keep finding their way back to him...?
1. Return

**Yu-Gi-Oh! Mark of Death**

 **Chapter 1: "Return"**

 **Opening Theme: "Raining" by Art Of Dying**

 **Ending Theme: "Behind Blue Eyes" by Limp Bizkit**

* * *

The city of County Dame found itself bustling with life as the sun rose above it and its citizens. Shadows casted from the various buildings in the city fell upon one another, creating plenty of shade to help the people of the grand-scale city beat the early May weather.

This was a fact that brightened the hearts of the students of Dexterity High School, as it signaled the approach of their being freed from school in the upcoming June. The very thought brought smiles to the faces of many students that morning as they stepped off of their buses onto the concrete sidewalk that aligned Dexterity High School, which stood four stories high near the center of the city, surrounded by potted plants and tiled walkways around its exterior.

But not all of the school's students weren't immediately marching into the school yet. To the left of the main entrance near the corner of the building stood three teens, who knew they had some time before their first classes started.

"I just don't understand how Mr. Carnell expected us to memorize _every_ President's name in one night!" the one boy standing among the three complained, speaking of their English teacher as he slid his skateboard back and forth across the tiled ground under his feet.

The Senior-year student's long, black hair was slicked back and tied up in a ponytail, unable to cover up his dark eyes that had no discernible color. His chin was scattered with stubbly black hairs that were the survivors of his shaving earlier that morning. His attire consisted of a red hoodie with cut-off sleeves over a black t-shirt, ripped jeans, and red and white converse sneakers. He stood at 5'10", and was eighteen years old.

The girl beside him now shook her head at her friend's complaint. "Oh come on, Danny. What's wrong with giving up one night to memorize a few names?" she said with an inquisitive glance, bemused by her friend's lack of enthusiasm for academic achievement.

Her short, brown hair only brought out the color of her emerald eyes behind her black-rimmed glasses. Her choice of clothing was a gray, casual dress, along with bracelets on both her wrists, and black shoes. She was younger than them all—only seventeen years old in her Junior year, and stood at 5'7".

"Marina, I get and respect that you're a good student and all," the teen named Danny said as he glanced up at the clear sky above him, "But if teachers really wanted us to succeed, they wouldn't have us working our asses off with stupid homework assignments like this!"

"Perhaps if you actually put some _effort_ into your school work rather than complaining about it, you'd actually have some decent grades!" the girl named Marina retorted.

As the two of them argued back and forth as they usually did on this subject, the third girl between them seemed to shrink away from the conversation. Her long, purple hair reached a fair length down her back, and her bangs were long enough in the front to hide her misty, silver eyes. Under her black and blue hoodie, she wore a black t-shirt that barely passed over the waistline of her gray pants, which reached down to her black and white-checkered, slip-on shoes. Like Danny, she too was an eighteen-year-old Senior, and stood at 5'8".

There was no sign of life in the girl's eyes as her two friends bickered in front of her. The frown on her face expressed a sadness that she was trying to hide beneath her bangs. However, Danny and Marina soon took notice of their friend's quietude, and they knew all too well from her body language that something was bothering her. They quelled their bickering to turn to her, Marina being the first to ask: "What's wrong, Violet?"

The teen named Violet now looked up to her two friends. "Are you serious...?" she asked them incredulously, sounding as though she was fighting back tears, "You _don't_ remember what today is...?"

Marina's face lit up with realization as her face then became sullen as well. Only Danny remained the oblivious one as he blinked, asking, "Uh... am I the only one out of the loop here?"

A silent tear begin to fall from Violet's face, and she quickly jerked her head away from his sight so her hair covered her face again. Marina now shot him a look, to which he responded with a confused shrug.

Marina now grabbed him by his sleeveless jacket and pulled him out of earshot from Violet as another busload of students pulled up in front of the school. The sound of the chattering students stepping off the bus made it so that Danny could barely hear Marina, but at least Violet wouldn't overhear her reminding him: "It's been two years since _Mike_ disappeared, remember?"

Not even a millisecond passed before Danny's eyes widened in shock at how he had completely forgotten. Mike Harper had been his best friend since his first day of middle school. He'd also came to know Violet and Marina soon afterwards, and they came to spend the next five years afterwards fending off a bully by the name of Josiah Sullivan. He and Mike often had to challenge Josiah to games of the world-renowned game, Duel Monsters, to get them to leave them alone. But amongst the both of them, Mike had always been the only one with enough dueling skill to put Josiah in his place.

But one day, towards the end of their sophomore year, Mike had suddenly disappeared from County Dame without a trace. Since then, there had never been any word from him or about his whereabouts from anywhere, and no one had even the foggiest idea of what might've happened to him. Even the old nun who owned the orphanage where he'd been living before his disappearance had no idea where he could've gone, but she could've cared less, too. By the time an entire year had passed since his disappearance, most everybody else in County Dame had given up hope for finding him.

Now, as the students from the last bus entered into the school building, Danny and Marina could hear Violet's soft, quiet crying from around the corner where they'd been quarreling earlier; each choking sob tugged at their heartstrings as they remembered all the suffering they'd gone through from their friend's absence.

"Man..." Danny finally said in a low tone as he leaned against the school's marble exterior, "Hard to believe that it's already been two years."

"Yeah," Marina muttered back quietly, "But I can't imagine how Violet must be feeling..."

Danny gave a short shake of his head before glancing to where his crying friend was. Mike and Violet had both known each other long before they'd met Danny and Marina in middle school—back to when they were infants. Mike's parents, before their untimely death, had been close friends with Violet's widowed father before they were even born. And though the two of them seemed to never realize it themselves, Danny and Marina could see that they had always carried strong affection for each other.

So when Marina said she couldn't imagine what Violet was feeling, she was absolutely right: neither her nor Danny felt the same depression that Violet had been thrown into since Mike's disappearance, feeling as if a part of herself had gone with him. Marina could remember a number of times that Violet had tried to move on and stop thinking about him, but it always ended the same way: her heart belonged to Mike, and Mike alone.

"Now what do we have here?"

Danny and Marina turned to watch as a group of four bulky teenagers exited the school, walking towards them. At the front of the pack was Josiah Sullivan, followed by his lackeys from the football team. He wore a black Dexterity High School jacket over a white muscle shirt, and light jeans over his black sneakers. On the left side of his unzipped coat, the school mascot was emblazoned on a woven patch: a knight dressed in full, silver armor. He stood at 5'11", and bore a light-blue and white duel disk on his left arm.

His face bore his usual stupid grin that was his trademark appearance. His sandy hair was cut military-style, and his icy-blue eyes were full of glee. His groupies behind him were dressed like him, only they were all wearing backwards-facing hats.

Now Danny just rolled his eyes at them. "Get lost, Josiah," he said with a scowl, "Don't you have some freshman to give a swirly to or something?"

Josiah only laughed at this, and then disregarded Danny's words as he mockingly said, "Aw, it looks like someone's having a bad day! Why, oh _why_ , could that be?"

He and his three followers then pretended that they were thinking about something by cupping their chins with their hand, using their other hand to support the first's elbow. They stood like this for a moment before Josiah eventually clapped his hands in fake realization: "Oh, yeah! Today's the second anniversary of the day your _friend_ went missing, right?"

Danny only glared at Josiah coldly, his teeth clenched as Marina seemed to shrink behind him. Both of them could hear Violet from around the corner trying to hold back her tears, but it sounded like they were forcing their way out of her.

"I mean it, Josiah. Screw off," Danny shot at him as he stood up straight, meeting the bully at his full height.

"Oh..." Josiah retorted snidely, "Was that a threat? Did you just threaten me?"

Danny's fists balled as Josiah then began to advance. ""I see you didn't bring your duel disk in today," he said as he cracked his knuckles, "So I guess I'll have to teach you to respect your superiors the hard way."

Danny's teeth gritted as he felt the regret of forgetting his duel disk set into his mind. Usually, he would've allowed Josiah to humiliate him in a duel if it meant that he would leave them all alone afterwards. But physically, Danny was just a scrawny stick in comparison to Josiah's bulked-up build, which always spelled an afternoon of putting ice on bruises for him on days where he was unable to duel; and it looked like that was how his day was about to go as well...

"STOP!"

Danny and Marina's expressions turned to shock when Violet suddenly emerged from around the corner, throwing herself between the bully and her friends as she spread her arms defensively to stop him from moving any further.

"Violet..." Danny uttered with surprise, "What are you doing?!"

While Josiah's eyes had gone wide with surprise as well, his face quickly returned to its condescending smirk. "Well, I'll be damned..." he said, "I'm actually surprised to see _you_ here. I thought you would've taken the day off to cry about how your ' _hero_ ' was gone, like you did last year."

Violet's tear-stained eyes now widened as Josiah continued to step towards her, reaching a hand out as if to grab her as he said, "I'm gonna enjoy this a lot more than I should..."

Violet could only shut her eyes with terrified panic, powerless to stop Josiah from whatever he was about to do...

" _Keep your hands off of her._ "

Josiah's hand stopped abruptly at the sound of the stern, unfamiliar voice coming from his right. He, and everyone else now looked down the smooth walkway that led from the school towards the city sidewalk, where the voice had come from. The person walking towards them was one unlike any of them had ever seen before: he was a young man who stood at 5'10", wearing a black duster over a black shirt. His lower half was dressed in black pants held up with a brown belt, with a leather holster around his waist, and black boots adorning his feet. The young man's dirty-blonde hair just reached the bottom of his neck, and his long bangs hid his eyes from view as he walked towards them.

"And who the hell are you supposed to be?" Josiah spat disrespectfully, unintimidated by the stranger's dark guise.

But Violet, Danny, and Marina were not as oblivious about who this person was as Josiah. But his clothes, the longer hair, and the chillingly calm demeanor made them doubt whether or not this was truly the individual they thought it was...

The stranger finally stopped about ten feet away from them as they stared at him with confusion. Amongst them, Violet could feel her heart throbbing wildly within her chest, and her eyes were unable to unglue themselves from the man in black.

"Josiah Sullivan," he now said as he shifted his head slightly, parting his bangs to reveal his ocean-blue orbs, "You haven't changed a bit."

Danny, Marina, and Violet's eyes went wide with ultimate shock as they met the stranger's eyes, confirming that he was, indeed, who they thought he was. Even Josiah finally came to realize who was standing before him as his face turned whiter than it ever had in his life.

"M-m-m-Mike...!" he was only able to stammer as he took a step backwards, "Y-y-you're alive...?!"

"Well, I'm certainly not dead," was Mike's response, no feeling or tone detectable in his voice, "So sorry if that disappoints you."

"Tch..." Josiah growled, "Well where the hell have you been all this time?!"

"I don't see why I owe _you_ an explanation," Mike said in the same monotonous tone.

Danny was speechless as Marina quivered with excitement now. Violet meanwhile, couldn't process what she was witnessing. Mike was _here_ — _alive_ —standing before her eyes; a sight she thought she would never see again in her lifetime.

Finally, Mike turned to meet the eyes of his friends for a moment as he assured them: "We'll all get to talk later; I promise."

All they could manage to do was give him a nod of understanding, before Mike brought his attention back to his old rival. "So your twenty-first birthday was last month, right Josiah?" he asked, "Which means you got held back in _which_ grade so many times?"

Josiah's face turned red for a moment as he heard his football lackeys behind him holding back snickers at that embarrassing fact, before regaining his composure. "So what, you think you're all high and mighty now after having disappeared for two years?" he shot at him, "The returning hero of Dexterity High school, decked out in your new emo getup?"

"I don't 'think' anything," Mike replied coolly, "But last I checked, you never were able to beat me in a duel anyway."

Josiah's frown turned into a scowl now as he glared at Mike. "Then whattaya say we change that right now?" he said as he raised his duel disk arm up, "I'll show you just how much stronger I've become!"

Mike did not reply, but instead only reached to the inside of his duster, pulling from his holster what looked like a revolver, which made everyone take a step backwards at the sight of the apparent firearm.

But what Mike did with this revolver was something none of them were expecting: he held the barrel of the gun to his wrist, where a metal strap protruded and wrapped its way around and attached itself to his arm. The muzzle then expanded and slid backwards, revealing that it was holding a deck of Duel Monsters cards inside. At the same time, a small piece of metal emerged from the top of the barrel, which then split itself and expanded to make five monster, spell, and trap card zones.

"A duel with you could be interesting..." Mike mused as he drew five cards from his deck, "So I'll amuse you."

Upon realizing what the revolver-shaped contraption was, Josiah's expression returned to its cocky grin before he stepped onto the tiled walkway to face Mike. He drew five cards of his own, before both duelists cried out, "LET'S DUEL!"

 **[Mike - Life Points (LP): 8000]**

 **[Josiah - LP: 8000]**

"Since you only just got back," Josiah spoke with false civility, "I think I'll let you take the first move!"

"Your funeral," Mike returned as he drew his first card, "I'll start by summoning my Constellar Algiedi in attack (ATK) mode!"

 **[Constellar Algiedi - Level (LV): 4/ATK: 1600]**

"Constellar Algiedi...?" Danny repeated with confusion, "I've never seen that card before..."

"Me neither..." Marina admitted, "I guess he's changed up his game."

"Yeah..." Violet agreed, "But I wonder if that's not all that's changed about him..."

Danny and Marina both turned to their friend with surprise. They had always figured that if Mike ever _did_ come back, Violet would have been over-the-top ecstatic to see him again. But the expression on her face right now was more alarmed than anything else, as if his sudden return and partaking in this duel seemed more like a problem to her...

Meanwhile, Mike continued: "Now Algiedi's effect activates! When it's summoned, I can then special summon another LV 4 Constellar monster directly from my hand! So I summon Constellar Pollux!"

 **[Constellar Pollux - LV: 4/ATK: 1700]**

"Next I'll activate a continuous spell card: Constellar Star Chart!" Mike said, "Which is gonna come in handy for me later.

"But for now, I'll overlay my LV 4 Constellar Algiedi and LV 4 Constellar Pollux!" he cried as his two monsters were absorbed into a spatial portal, "With these two monsters, I build the overlay network, and Xyz summon Constellar Praesepe!"

 **[Constellar Praesepe - Rank (RK): 4/ATK: 2400]**

Josiah looked taken aback by the sight of this new monster, while everyone else's jaws had dropped as they marveled at the sight of this new being of Mike's.

Eventually, Josiah managed to recover his game face before he shot at Mike: "So you got yourself some new cards! Is that supposed to scare me or something?"

"Maybe not yet," Mike replied, "But for now, my Constellar Star Chart's effect now activates, allowing me to draw one card whenever I Xyz summon a Constellar monster!"

Josiah watched as he drew another card to add to his hand, before saying, "Now I'll set two cards face down, and end my turn."

"Then it's my turn!" Josiah said smugly, "I draw!"

He scanned his hand for a moment before his lips curled into a sinister smile. "Like you, I'm also gonna start with a spell card that's gonna help me out later: my Six Samurai United!"

"Aw, come on..." Danny uttered, "He had to draw that _this_ early in the duel?!"

"Now whenever a Six Samurai monster is summoned to my field, this card gains a Bushido counter!" Josiah explained as he took another card from his hand. "And speaking of summoning, activate the effect of my Elder of the Six Samurai in my hand! While you control monsters and I don't, I can special summon him to my field in defense (DEF) mode!"

 **[Elder of the Six Samurai - LV: 3/DEF: 0]**

 **[Six Samurai United - Bushido Counters: 1]**

"And then I'll summon my Kagemusha of the Six Samurai tuner monster!" Josiah continued.

 **[Kagemusha of the Six Samurai - LV: 2/ATK: 400]**

 **[Six Samurai United - Bushido Counters: 2]**

"And with these two monsters on the field, I can tune my LV 2 Kagemusha to my LV 3 Elder!" he exclaimed as he sent the two cards to his graveyard, "Now I Synchro summon my Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En!"

 **[Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En -** **LV: 5/ATK: 2500]**

"Next, I'll use my Six Samurai United's effect!" Josiah went on, "With two Bushido counters on it, I can send it to the graveyard to draw two more cards!"

He drew his two cards, and smirked at one of the ones he'd drawn. "Now, since I control at least one other Six Samurai on my field, I can special summon my Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan!"

 **[Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan - LV: 4/ATK: 1800]**

"And now I'll launch my onslaught on your Constellar Praesepe with my Shi En!" Josiah cried as his monster made a lightning-swift dash towards Mike's monster.

But Mike had other plans for his monster: "I activate Constellar Praesepe's effect! By detaching one overlay unit, I can increase the ATK power of a Constellar monster that's battling by 1000 points!"

 **[Constellar Praesepe - ATK: 3400]**

Everyone watched as Josiah's Legendary Six Samurai Synchro got forced back with a punch from Praesepe. Josiah, however, remained calm as he retorted, "With my Shi En's effect, my Kizan can be destroyed in its place!"

Kizan rushed forward to defend Shi En as Praesepe thrust its fist again, intercepting the blow before shattering as it let out a pained groan.

 **[Josiah - LP: 7100]**

Josiah growled with frustration before saying, "I'll set two cards face down, and end my turn."

 **[Constellar Praesepe - ATK: 2400]**

"Back to me, then," Mike said as he drew his next card, "And once again, I'll have Constellar Praesepe use its effect: by detaching its last overlay unit, it gains 1000 ATK!"

 **[Constellar Praesepe - ATK: 3400]**

"Now attack his Shi En!" Mike declared, prompting his monster to charge towards Josiah's Shi En.

But as it did so, Josiah retaliated: "I activate my Mirror Force trap card! So say goodbye to your Constellar Praesepe!"

The golden warrior hit an invisible barrier between itself and Josiah's Shi En, before being promptly shattered by the power of the trap card.

On the sidelines, Danny's, Marina's, and Violet's eyes all widened. "What was Mike thinking...?" Marina tried to figure, "He walked _right_ into Josiah's trap..."

"I wouldn't be so sure..." Danny spoke up, gaining both Marina's and Violet's attention, "Mike's duelist instinct has always been top-notch. I have a feeling there's more to his strategy than this."

But Josiah clearly didn't see it this way, as he couldn't help but laugh at how Mike had sprung his trap. "Man, you're not nearly as good as you used to be!" he shot at Mike, "You've gotten careless over the last few years!"

"Is that what you think?"

Josiah's eyes narrowed at Mike's response as he explained, "I didn't trigger your trap because I was careless. I attacked because even if you _did_ have something to counteract, it wouldn't make you any more of a threat to me.

"But talk is cheap," Mike continued as he flipped his own set card, "So now I'll activate my Xyz Reborn trap! This card revives any Xyz monster in my graveyard, and then attaches itself to that monster as an overlay unit!"

"I don't think so!" Josiah countered as he pointed to his monster, "Or did you forget about my Shi En's effect? He can negate and destroy any spell or trap card you activate once per turn!"

Shi En made its way over to Mike's side of the field, ready to slash at the trap card that Mike had flipped. But little did it realize that _it_ was actually the one about to be trapped:

"I reveal my second trap card: Dimensional Barrier!" Mike retorted as his second trap flipped, "This card negates the effects of any type of monster that I choose for the turn! So I choose for Synchro monsters to lose all their power!"

A shimmering barrier materialized around Josiah's Samurai, which prevented it from swinging its sword down on Mike's other trap card no matter how many times it tried.

Josiah could feel his temple throbbing as Mike then continued: "Now my Xyz Reborn is safe, and can revive my Constellar Praesepe!"

 **[Constellar Praesepe - ATK: 2400]**

"Now let's try this again!" Mike decided as he cried, "I detach the overlay unit given by my Xyz Reborn to raise Praesepe's ATK by 1000 once more!"

 **[Constellar Praesepe - ATK: 3400]**

"Now attack!" Mike cried out as Praesepe cross over to Josiah's field, where it punched its way through Josiah's Shi En, destroying him as it brought down Josiah's LP once again.

 **[Josiah - LP: 6200]**

"And now that that's done, I'll end my turn with two more cards face down," Mike concluded, "Your move, Josiah."

 **[Constellar Praesepe - ATK: 2400]**

Josiah drew silently, aggravated by the fact that Mike had managed to counter every move he'd made so far. But when he saw what he'd drawn, he realized that he was ready to turn the tables back in his favor.

"I'll start by activating my trap card, Double-Edged Sword Technique!" he started as his other set card now flipped, "With it, I can revive two Six Samurai monsters that are sleeping in my graveyard! So now both my Shi En and Kagemusha come back!"

 **[Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En - LV: 5/ATK: 2500]**

 **[Kagemusha of the Six Samurai - LV: 2/ATK: 400]**

"And now, since I control at least one Six Samurai monster," Josiah continued, "I can special summon Grandmaster of the Six Samurai directly from my hand!"

 **[Grandmaster of the Six Samurai - LV: 5/ATK: 2100]**

"Next, I'll tune my LV 2 Kagemusha to my LV 5 Grandmaster!" Josiah cried, "And by doing so, I Synchro summon my Driven Daredevil!"

 **[Driven Daredevil - LV: 7/ATK: 2400]**

Danny, Marina, and Violet winced at the sight of this monster. Josiah only called out his Driven Daredevil when he was looking at a difficult situation, as its effect made it difficult for any opponent to destroy without paying a hefty price.

Now, Josiah eyed Mike's set card before deciding to take a chance: "Now, I'll have my Shi En strike down your Constellar Praesepe!"

As Shi En took up his sword and dashed towards Praesepe, Mike flipped another trap card: "I activate Impenetrable Attack!" he said, "This card will keep my Praesepe from being destroyed in battle!"

"Idiot!" Josiah shot back, "Don't you remember that my Shi En can negate one of your spell and trap cards once per turn?!"

Sparks dashed across Mike's trap card before it faded away, allowing Shi En to continue as it slashed through Praesepe like a knife would through butter.

 **[Mike - LP: 7900]**

"Actually, I _did_ remember..." Mike retorted as he indicated his other trap card, "That's why I played it, so you couldn't counter this: my Constellar Meteor!

"This trap sends any monster that battled a Constellar monster and survived back to the deck!" Mike explained, "But since your Shi En is a Synchro monster, it'll have to return to your extra deck instead!"

Shi En disappeared from Josiah's field, while the latter balled his free hand into a fist. "I'll make you pay for that..." he uttered angrily, "Driven Daredevil, attack Mike directly!"

The war-torn warrior took up his swords and launched himself at Mike, driving both of his long blades swiftly through Mike's chest before returning to Josiah's field.

 **[Mike – LP: 5500]**

Gasps came from Danny, Marina, and Violet as Josiah sneered at Mike. "Looks like you're not so smart after all!" he called out to him, "Since there was nothing you could do to stop my Driven Daredevil!"

But for all his bravado, Josiah's taunts elicited no reactions from Mike. He just stood there, motionless as he stared into Josiah's eyes—as though he were silently vowing that he would take his vengeance against him for destroying his monster.

"It's like he had ice in his blood..." Marina murmured, "Kind of creepy..."

"Yeah..." Danny agreed, "I've never seen him this calm during a duel before..."

Josiah, meanwhile, had also taken notice of Mike's lack of reaction: "What, what's that look for?" he shot at him, "Can't stand that I managed to finally strike your LP?"

"Are you done?" Mike shot back coldly, "I'm sick of listening to you run your mouth."

Josiah's eyes lit up with fury as Mike continued: "I came here to duel, not to listen to you monologue. So either shut up and make a move, or end your turn."

Everyone's eyes widened with shock at these words from Mike. Amongst them, Violet was especially shaken as she felt her heart beginning to break. She had known Mike for all his life up until two years prior, and she'd _never_ heard Mike speak to anyone the way he'd just addressed Josiah.

But since the moment he'd first appeared before them again, she could tell that there was something deeper inside of him that had changed: not just in his dueling, appearance, or attitude, but in his _soul_. And that very idea scared her—the idea that the boy she'd loved for so many years was gone; replaced by this darker, colder version of him of him with no remorse...

Josiah, meanwhile, finally managed to regain his composure before he finished: "I'll just set one card face down. And that ends my turn."

"About time," Mike said as he drew once more, "I'll start by summoning my Constellar Sombre!"

 **[Constellar Sombre - LV: 4/ATK: 1550]**

"And with his effect," Mike explained as he took the card from his graveyard," I can banish the Constellar Algiedi in my graveyard to return my Constellar Pollux back to my hand!

"And then, by doing so, my Sombre's second effect is unlocked!" Mike continued, "Which means I can normal summon one more Constellar monster this turn! So now I'll once again call forth my Constellar Pollux!"

 **[Constellar Pollux - LV: 4/ATK: 1700]**

"Now I'll overlay these two monsters, and build the overlay network!" Mike cried as a spatial portal opened once again, absorbing his two monsters, "And by doing so, I Xyz summon my Starliege Paladynamo!"

 **[Starliege Paladynamo - RK: 4/ATK: 2000]**

Danny, Marina, Violet, and even Josiah's jaws all dropped at the sight of this monster's appearance. This was the only card out of Mike's former deck that they had seen him use so far. It had always been his ace monster back in the day, and apparently that hadn't changed.

Violet especially looked like she was ready to shed tears of happiness. This was the first time since Mike had gotten back that she was finally seeing him as the same Mike that she'd grown up with, which made her wonder if he'd actually changed as much as she originally thought...

"Next I'll use my Starliege Paladynamo's effect," Mike continued as Josiah began to panic internally, "By detaching both of his overlay units, not only can I wipe out your Driven Daredevil's ATK, but I can nullify all its effects that keep it from being destroyed in battle as well!"

 **[Driven Daredevil - ATK: 0]**

"Now attack and destroy his Daredevil, Paladynamo!" Mike declared as he pointed to Josiah's monster.

Without a moment's hesitation, Starliege Paladynamo took up its space-like blade and slashed through Driven Daredevil with one swipe. The shockwaves from the attack forced Josiah to flinch as his LP declined once again.

 **[Josiah - LP: 4200]**

Now Josiah was beyond infuriated. He couldn't even begin to remember how many times he'd watched Mike's Starliege Paladynamo strike down his best monsters. But he wasn't about to let this duel end like that again...

"Now I'll set one more card face down," Mike wrapped up, "And that ends my turn."

"My turn, then!" Josiah cried out as he drew, brimming with anger.

"I'll start by activated my Reckless Greed trap card!" he began, "So by skipping my next two draw phases, I can draw two new cards right now!"

He drew his two cards, and upon seeing what he'd been dealt, his face lit up with a sadistic grin.

"I'll now summon out my Legendary Six Samurai - Kageki!" he continued.

 **[Legendary Six Samurai - Kageki - LV: 3/ATK: 200]**

"And since I just normal summoned him, I can use his effect!" Josiah explained, "Which lets me special summon another LV 4 or lower Six Samurai from my hand! So meet my Six Samurai - Zanji!"

 **[The Six Samurai - Zanji - LV: 4/ATK: 1800]**

"Next, I'll play the spell card known as Cunning of the Six Samurai!" Josiah went on, "And with it, I can release my Kageki to bring back my Kizan in its place!"

 **[Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan - LV: 4/ATK: 1800]**

"And now I'll force your hand!" Josiah exclaimed, "I overlay my Zanji and my Kizan to build the overlay network!"

Everyone watched as another spatial portal opened, this time on Josiah's side of the field that absorbed both of his monsters before he cried out, "I Xyz summon my Blade Armor Ninja!"

 **[Blade Armor Ninja - RK: 4/ATK: 2200]**

"Damn it..." Danny murmured as he eyed the new Xyz warrior with loathing, "I don't like where this is going..."

"If you didn't like that, then you're gonna really hate this!" Josiah retorted to Danny's comment, "Now I'm equipping my Lightning Blade equip spell to my Ninja, which'll raise his ATK power by 800 points!"

 **[Blade Armor Ninja - ATK: 3000]**

"And then, I'll use my Ninja's effect!" Josiah cried out, "By detaching an overlay unit, my Ninja's able to attack twice during this battle phase!"

Violet, Danny, and Marina watched with horror as Josiah then declared, "Now, Blade Armor Ninja! Strike his Paladynamo down!"

The Ninja seemed to vanish, before suddenly reappearing before Paladynamo in the blink of an eye. He drew his twin swords, which crackled with electricity as he struck them through Starliege Paladynamo, shattering him.

 **[Mike - LP: 4500]**

"Tch..." Mike grunted, "Not bad, but since you destroyed him, I'm now allowed to draw an extra card!"

Mike drew as Josiah then said, "Draw all the cards you want, but my Blade Armor Ninja's effect lets him attack again—only this time he'll be striking your LP directly!"

The Ninja vanished once more, reappearing this time before Mike. He pulled his two electric swords out and slashed at him in an X-shape with the blades, causing Mike to stumble backwards as his LP declined again.

 **[Mike - LP: 1500]**

"Mike!" Violet finally cried out to him.

Mike only glanced towards her as he regained his footing, and gave her a stern nod to let her know that he was okay. She reciprocated with a short nod of her own, before Mike stood himself back up at full height again.

"Heh... about time you pulled out your ace monster as well..." he said as Blade Armor Ninja leapt back to Josiah's field, "But while that was a pretty good move, if that's all you're able to do, then I'm afraid you just ran out of luck."

Josiah raised a confused eyebrow as Mike then flipped his set card: "I reveal my Damage Condenser trap! By discarding one card when I take battle damage, I can special summon any monster from my deck with ATK points equal to or less than the damage I took.

"So come on out!" Mike said as he took the card from his deck, "Constellar Antares!"

 **[Constellar Antares - LV: 6/ATK: 2400]**

"And now that he's been special summoned, his effect activates!" Mike explained, "Meaning I can add any Constellar monster in my graveyard back to my hand!

"And the monster that I'm adding back..." Mike said as he reached for the card in his graveyard, "Is my Constellar Kaus!"

Josiah's eyebrows rose at this declaration. "Constellar Kaus?" he questioned, "But you haven't summoned any monster like that!"

"You're right, I haven't," Mike confirmed as a smirk formed on his face, "But I _did_ have to discard a card from my hand to activate my Damage Condenser, remember?"

Everyone's eyes widened with realization as it hit them: Mike had been _counting_ on Josiah pulling off a second attack so that he could activate his Damage Condenser, using the card he'd drawn from his Paladynamo's destruction for its cost. No doubt that Mike had come up with a number of contingency plans depending on what he ended up drawing, but the way it played out had managed to put him a few cards ahead of Josiah, returning the duel to his advantage.

Now, as Mike took the card back from his graveyard, Blade Armor Ninja returned to Josiah's field again as the latter angrily fumed. "Guess I'm done..." he uttered acidly, his tone making it clear that he couldn't believe how Mike had managed to pull so far ahead of him _again_.

"Then it's my turn!" Mike said as he drew his next card, "I'll start by bringing my Constellar Kaus to the field!"

 **[Constellar Kaus - LV: 4/ATK: 1800]**

"And with his effect," Mike explained, "I can either increase or decrease the LVs of all Constellar monsters by 1 _twice_ per turn! So I'll bring his LV up, while I bring my Antares's LV down!"

 **[Constellar Kaus - LV: 5]**

 **[Constellar Antares - LV: 5]**

"And now that they're set, I'll build the overlay network one more time!" Mike cried as the spatial portal opened once more, "With them, I Xyz summon Constellar Pleiades!"

 **[Constellar Pleiades - RK: 5/ATK: 2500]**

"And now that he's summoned, my Constellar Star Chart's effect lets me draw one more card!" Mike continued.

He now drew his last card of the duel as Violet, Danny, Marina, Josiah, and all of Josiah's lackeys held their breaths, waiting to see what Mike's final card would be.

But the moment Mike looked to see what he'd drawn, he knew his victory was assured.

"Now I'll activate my Pleiades's effect!" Mike said, "By detaching one overlay unit, he can force your Blade Armor Ninja to return back to your extra deck!"

"He can _what_?!" Josiah cried out as his sword-wielding Ninja vanished from his field.

"And finally, I'll equip my Megamorph equip spell to my Pleiades!" Mike went on, "So since my LP are lower than yours, his ATK strength is doubled!"

 **[Constellar Pleiades - ATK: 5000]**

Josiah's face paled now as Mike made his final declaration: "Now Constellar Pleiades, end this duel with a direct attack!"

Constellar Pleiades took up his large sword and charged at Josiah, who cried out as Mike's creature slashed through him, eliminating the last of his LP.

 **[Josiah - LP: 0]**

 **[Winner: Mike]**

The moment slowly sank into the spectators of the duel as the two duelists' duel disks deactivated, while Josiah sank to his knees in defeat as the football jocks behind him all ran up to circle around him.

"Yo, Josiah!" Mike, Violet, Danny, and Marina heard them cry out, "Are you alright, man?!"

But Josiah ignored his lackeys' concern as he brought himself back to his feet, his eyes shooting daggers at Mike as he did so.

"How..." he uttered acidly at him, "How could I have lost to you again...?"

"Because you don't know what it means to fight for something; or _someone_ ," Mike replied as he stared back at Josiah coldly, "You only duel to bully and beat anyone you feel like putting down.

"And anyone who fights only to make others suffer..." Mike's tone now turned deadly serious, "Doesn't deserve to call themselves a duelist."

Josiah remained silent for a moment as he and Mike exchanged long, hard stares, before he then started making his way down the tiled walkway. He walked past Mike, before he then reached the end of the sidewalk and began pacing away from the school, prompting his football lackeys to holler after him as he disappeared into the city.

Mike also watched Josiah's departure as his three friends now made their way over to him, with Danny being the first to give a low whistle. "Man, I don't know where you've been all this time..." he finally said to his old friend, "But you gotta tell me where you learned to duel like that! That was awesome!"

Mike's eyes flickered towards his friends for a moment, remaining silent before he then turned and started walking away in the direction that Josiah had gone, back towards the city sidewalk as the three friends' eyes widened with confusion.

"Hey, Mike?!" Danny called after him, "Where are ya goin'?!"

"He's seriously not just _leaving_ , is he...?" Marina wondered aloud.

But Violet couldn't let that happen. "Mike, wait!" she cried out, running after him and catching him by his arm.

He stopped and stood there, not glancing behind himself to look at Violet. He could feel her hand trembling as it gripped him, and he couldn't blame her: he had _just_ come back to her, and now he was leaving again.

"Violet," he softly but sternly said as he pulled away from her, "Bring the others to the usual spot after school. I'll meet you there."

And without another word, he continued walking away, leaving Violet to then notice a disturbing detail she hadn't been able to see before: the back of his black duster was tattered with what looked like _bullet holes_.

 _'Mike...'_ Violet wondered with horror as she brought a hand over her mouth, ' _What happened to you...?'_

* * *

 ** _\- TWO YEARS AGO -_**

The desert winds howled as sand whirled in the air, making it difficult for the young man to see as he dredged through the desert, fighting back against the wind. He was dressed in a black, long-sleeved shirt with rolled up sleeves, along with faded jeans held up with a belt, and a deck case attached to it behind him. His black sneakers felt as though they were melting on his feet, as they absorbed the heat of the sun and the sand.

The young man's dirty-blonde hair was cut fairly short, but still had some body to it. His eyes were colored ocean-blue, but had never looked as tired as they did in that moment. His body was exhausted, and his throat was parched and dry. Every step he took felt like another day to his weary mind.

Mike had been walking like this for the last three days since he'd woken in his bed at the orphanage that fateful morning. Without warning, the X-shaped scar on his arm that he'd had since he was a child had awoken him one morning with a sharp, stinging sensation that drew him towards the direction he'd started walking in. And no matter how much he'd tried, he couldn't find it in himself to resist its will.

Now, Mike was beginning to feel its sting again, only more intensely than ever before. He hadn't felt it sting this much since he'd started walking in the direction he was going in, which made him wonder if he'd somehow wandered off the path that it wanted him to go.

But as this thought crossed his mind, Mike suddenly thought that he could make out a distinct figure in the distance: a man standing in the sandy wind, looking as though he were awaiting Mike's arrival.

This had to have been who he was being drawn towards. He pushed himself to try and reach the man faster; his body aching with every agonizing step he took as the scar's sting continued to intensify.

Eventually, he reached the point where he could see the mysterious man more clearly: he had wispy, jet-black hair with only a few streaks of silver here and there, and a van dyke beard of the same color scheme. His eyes were a deep shade of gray—dark as the most electrifying storm. He was wearing a long, black duster, beneath which was a black shirt, belt, pants, and even what appeared to be a gun holster around his waist. He was taller than Mike, standing at about 6'1".

He would've wondered if he was making a mistake in approaching the man, but his mind and body had reached their limits. The stinging from his X-shaped scar had suddenly soared to another new height, making the rest of his body felt like it was on fire. It was only a matter of moments before his body gave in, and the last thing he remembered was his head hitting the sand before he fell out of consciousness.

 ** _\- FLASHBACK END -_**

* * *

 **Next Time**

 **Chapter 2: "Details"**

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

 _Hey everyone, ThatLoneAvenger here. First off, I just want to thank you awesome people who decided to give this story a read, and I hope that you enjoyed it._

 _Going forward: if you wanna read more "Mark of Death," then go ahead and hit that "Follow" button down below. And if you REALLY like it, consider hitting that "Favorite" button too. ^^ And really, if nothing else else, PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW, and let me know your thoughts. Even just a short sentence with an opinion would be great; hearing feedback from others is the best motivator for my writing, and helps me improve too. Plus it helps make the fact that I've put 4 years' worth of my free time into this story feel a little more worthwhile. xD_

 _Now, while I've got your attention, there are a few things I wanna mention that you readers should know about:_

 _\- I've got_ _an index for this story and all of its chapters on my profile. You can also check out links to my custom-mixed opening and ending theme songs for this series (because why not? ^^), as well as featured songs that may appear in certain chapters; in case anyone wants to give those a listen. I just hope you like hard rock. ^^_

 _\- Duel Monsters in this story is going to follow the basic rules of the TCG in real life, with the exception of the use of a few select cards from the various anime/manga series. I'm also not following any banlists either, so note that I may/may not use a card that is/has been banned. This story is also categorized as Arc-V for the use of all cards through until the VRAINS era. Lastly, I will NOT be using OC cards in this story._

 _\- The first few duels in this story were written BEFORE the applied changes to the rules of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG in June of 2014. So to avoid needing to go back and modifying my duels to the new rules, this story's duels will be following the obsolete rulings up to a certain point. So for those of you who're going "you can't draw on the first turn!" in your reviews right now, there's my rebuttal. xP_

 _\- I will NOT be accepting OCs into this story to join the main cast. I've been working on this story for years now, and adding anything else would just throw it off-course. However, there are a FEW chapters I'm considering putting other OCs into for either short cameos or generic duel purposes. So should such a chapter arise, I will let you know in these A/Ns. I only ask that you give any OCs you submit actual real-world decks, and not OC-based cards; as they're easier for me to work with._

 _Last but not least, if there are any major writing or duel errors in my work, please let me know via review or PM, and I'll get straight to work on fixing them._

 _Alright, pretty sure that's all I've got to say. Thanks again for reading, and stay awesome, everyone._

* * *

 ** _\- Last Revised: Jul. 1, 2017 -_**


	2. Details

**Yu-Gi-Oh! Mark of Death**

 **Chapter 2: "Details"**

 **Opening Theme: "Raining" by Art Of Dying**

 **Ending Theme: "Behind Blue Eyes" by Limp Bizkit**

* * *

The rest of the day proceeded as usual for Danny, Marina, and Violet, except there was a noticeable lack of tension around the school. With the absence of Josiah, who hadn't returned to school after walking away from his duel with Mike, the rest of the students at Dexterity High felt as though a huge weight had been lifted off their shoulders. Of course, the jocks from the football team wasted no time talking about how Josiah's defeat at the hands of Mike—a story which spread throughout the rest of the school populace like wildfire. Even the teachers and other staff picked up on his return, and it wasn't long before the entire school was talking about him.

Danny was especially enthused as he and Violet entered their last class of the day, History, after parting ways with Marina, who had to go to her junior Health class. The two senior friends made sure that they sat next to each other in the back of the classroom, as to make undetectable conversation that couldn't be heard by their teacher, Mr. Carnell.

"Oh man, this day has kicked so much ass!" Danny whispered emphatically to Violet as they sat themselves down at their long desk, "Ms. Avers extends the deadline to our history paper; the vending machine in the cafeteria has barbecue chips now; and to top it all off, my best friend's finally back!"

"Heh..." Violet chuckled weakly, only half-focused on what Danny was saying.

She couldn't stop thinking about the events from that morning: how Mike had returned out of nowhere after having disappeared for two years, defeated Josiah, and then walked away again. To her, it felt like that whole scene had fled by so fast, as though it had all been some kind of dream.

But she'd already pinched herself enough times throughout the day to know that had been no dream. Though she almost wished that it had been one, as she still couldn't wrap her head around how cold Mike had acted towards Josiah. If it hadn't been for his summoning Starliege Paladynamo, she might've been convinced that the Mike she'd known her whole life was gone—an idea which shook her to her core.

But then there were the _bullet holes_ she'd seen in the back of his duster. She couldn't even begin to fathom what kind of things Mike might have been through if those holes were really put there by _actual_ bullets. And the revolver-shape of the duel disk that he'd used earlier didn't help to settle her mind any better...

"Violet... Violet!"

Danny's whispering voice finally found its way to her head, and she snapped out of her thoughts with a jolt as she shook her head. "Sorry..." she said with an apologetic look, "I just..."

Though her voice trailed off, Danny nodded to confirm he knew what she meant. "No, I get it..." he tried to comfort her as he placed a hand on her shoulder, "Today's been hard on you. But it's been hard on all of us too, y'know."

Violet scoffed. "You haven't been in love with him your whole life," she said in retort, a tone of mild annoyance detectable in her voice.

 _That_ prompted Danny to shut up as he took his arm from her shoulder, leaving Violet to go back to her thoughts. Despite the mysteries of just what had happened to Mike while he'd been gone over the last two years, there was still one thing on her mind that particularly bothered her that she couldn't figure out: what had driven him to disappear for the last two years in the first place.

 _'Is it possible that he left because of the accident that happened all those years ago...?'_ she wondered to herself, a grim expression now coming to her face as that memory flashed in her mind.

Just before she could begin to think more on that horrendous day, Mr. Carnell called her name as he did attendance: "Miss Alyssum... Miss Alyssum!"

Danny gave her a nudge to bring her back to her senses, and the sudden jolt by reality startled her as she finally stammered, "Uh, here!"

She looked up at her English teacher as she spoke. As always, he was wearing a casual sports jacket over his white dress shirt, along with pants that no one could tell if they were jeans, dress pants, or some kind of odd crossover of the two. He stood at 6'2", and his black hair was messy as usual.

"About time," Mr. Carnell spoke sternly to her, "You need to get your head out of the clouds, Miss Alyssum."

He gave Violet a look that she had a feeling meant extra homework tonight, and she let out a defeated sigh as Mr. Carnell continued his attendance check.

* * *

The elevator door to the school's fourth floor gave a loud ding, signaling its arrival on that floor's landing. The two doors parted from each other to let the dirty blonde-haired man in the black duster step into the hallway.

Mike glanced down the stretches of space in the unoccupied hallways: nothing but walls with decorated by canvases and portraits that contained pictures, paintings, and other works of art that past students of Dexterity High had created. The artworks were spread between different office doors, all of which belonged to administrative staff members of the school that no students were allowed to enter without permission.

But the door he was looking for was at the very end of the hall to the far left: the wooden door with the same green doorframe that he remembered, with a gold-rimmed sign on the door that read in bold capitals: **"DR. SKELDON CRAWFORD: PRINCIPAL."**

He made his way towards the door, stopping before it as he rapped his knuckles on it three times.

"Who is it?" came a voice from inside that Mike hadn't heard in a long time.

"It's me, Dr. Crawford," Mike replied, hoping that the man behind the door would recognize his voice.

There was silence behind the wooden door as Mike stood waiting, before the voice within finally spoke again: "Come in."

Mike turned the knob and walked inside. The first thing he noticed was how different the office looked compared to the last time he'd been in it two years ago: new filing cabinets occupied the wall to the right of the door he had walked in through, replacing the rusted ones he remembered.

Dr. Crawford's desk was comprised of solid marble, held up by smaller, metal filing cabinets that must have held personal items or folders. Upon the desk was a large-screen computer with numerous tabs opened on it. A wireless mouse and keyboard lay between their owner seated at the desk and the screen.

Bright sunlight shone through two windows in the room: one from the side of Dr. Crawford's desk, and one behind him that had a shelf beneath it holding magnolias in a large flower pot. The flowers were definitely being taken care of well, as they stood tall and proud, full of life. A small watering can sat beside them.

Dr. Crawford sat behind the marble desk in what looked like a half office chair, half Lay-Z-Boy. He was dressed in his usual white, collared, short-sleeved shirt under a blue sport coat. His legs donned dark jeans, and his feet wore black, slip-on shoes. His handsome face looked bored as he looked down at the papers he was reading. His short, bright-blonde hair was neatly parted in the front, and his hazel eyes seemed bigger than they actually were behind his plastic-rimmed glasses. At full height, he would've stood at 6'2".

He finally looked up as Mike closed the door behind him. "I thought that was you," he said with a smile, "Though I was under the impression that you'd left after your duel with Mr. Sullivan earlier."

Mike's eyes narrowed as he eyed Dr. Crawford cautiously. "How do you know about that?" he questioned his old principal.

Dr. Crawford laughed as he looked back to his papers. "The stereotype of a football jock is not as far off as others take it to be," he stated simply, "The rest of the football team practically made an announcement about how you humiliated him this morning."

Mike did not respond, but instead continued to look down at Dr. Crawford as he read through his papers. Feeling his gaze on him, Dr. Crawford finally put down the papers and looked up to face Mike again as he leaned back in his chair. "I suppose this isn't just a casual visit after disappearing for two years," he guessed.

"No," Mike confirmed, "Just some business I wanted to discuss."

Dr. Crawford was quiet for a moment before deciding to switch topics: "How about you tell me where you've been for the last two years first?"

Mike averted his eyes from Dr. Crawford's gaze at that remark. "I'd honestly rather not."

"I'll only speak business with you once I get the story," Dr. Crawford compromised, not wanting to let information he'd been wondering about for the last two years slip out of his hands.

Mike stood in silence for a short moment, before he finally scoffed. "What do you want to know, then?" he asked.

"Why don't we start with what caused you to disappear in the first place?" Dr. Crawford suggested, wanting to ease into the conversation.

"You ought to know the answer to that already," Mike shot back, "After all, you're the one who got me through that hell twelve years ago."

Dr. Crawford nodded as he recalled to all those years prior: before becoming principal of Dexterity High School, he had been a guidance counselor and therapist by trade. Mike, at the age of six, had been one of his patients after what they both referred to as the "accident" had taken the lives of his parents.

Soon afterwards, Dr. Crawford became Principal of Dexterity High with help from the fact that he was very understanding and caring for younger people, and wanted to build a curriculum that he knew would suit the minds of teenage youths.

Dr. Crawford now rubbed his temples as the memories of what he and Mike used to discuss returned to his mind. "I suppose you're still carrying all that blame, then," he figured, "So did you leave to seek redemption?"

Mike remained silent, though the look on his face told Dr. Crawford that he was only half-right; but at least he was onto something.

Dr. Crawford now sighed as he pushed aside the papers on his desk, not wanting to be distracted. "I'm guessing you didn't find it, did you?" he reasoned.

"No," Mike confirmed, continuing to avoid eye contact, "Instead, I... I ended up in a place where I watched a lot of terrible things happen... and where I even _did_ a lot of terrible things."

The principal's eyebrows rose. "What sorts of things are we talking about?" he asked.

But Mike couldn't bring himself to speak of the events he'd been involved in over the last two years. Instead, he only took the revolver-shaped duel disk from its holster at his side and placed it on Dr. Crawford's desk.

"This is more than just a duel disk, Dr. Crawford," Mike explained as his eyes finally locked with his old therapist's.

Dr. Crawford looked from Mike to the device he had put on his desk. And as he stared long and hard at it, he realized what Mike meant: it didn't look like a gun just for design. It _could,_ and _had,_ taken lives.

"I see..." Dr. Crawford said, sounding slightly shaken as he glanced from the device to Mike again.

Mike now took the gun from the marble desk, replacing it in its holster at his side as he explained, "The only reason I'm back now is because I want to start making things right with myself. And I never would have been able to where I was."

Dr. Crawford could see the honesty in his old patient's eyes, as well as the regret for whatever it was he'd done, and the hatred for himself for having done so. He'd seen this look in Mike's eyes only plenty of times before, after the "accident" that had taken the lives of Mike's parents had caused him to only look at himself in resentment. Now, that resentment burned even brighter in his sea-blue orbs than he'd ever seen before.

He sighed once more, leaning back in his chair. "If I might ask you..." he asked with a raised eyebrow, "What exactly drove you to suddenly seek out redemption in such a way in the first place?"

"That's a long story that I doubt you have time to listen to," Mike said as his right hand made its way to grab the top part of his lower left arm, "And besides, I'd prefer to get down to the business I mentioned earlier."

"Very well," Dr. Crawford decided to go with what Mike wanted to talk about, realizing that he wasn't getting any more information out of him, "What sort of business do you wish to discuss?"

"My education," Mike replied as he finally sat himself down in one of the guest chairs across from Dr. Crawford, whose eyes widened in surprise at Mike's answer.

"Your education?" he repeated, making sure that he was hearing Mike right. While Mike had always been an average student back in the day, it was no secret that he'd never been one to care too much about his schooling.

"Right," Mike confirmed as he got comfortable in his chair, "I want to finish school as soon as possible. The only things I learned over the last two years was a little self-defense, but that's not really a necessary requirement where real-world jobs are concerned, I imagine."

"Yes..." Dr. Crawford agreed, "But we're already near the end of our school year here. To continue your education from where you left off now, you wouldn't be able to graduate for another two years."

"Which is why I was wondering if you might have a way to accelerate that," Mike proposed, "Perhaps set me up with some kind of nightly courses. Anything to help me graduate sooner rather than later.

"And not to mention," Mike added in, "You'd understand if I told you I don't exactly feel comfortable around my former peers anymore, right?"

Dr. Crawford took a moment to contemplate Mike's request. The look in Mike's eyes told him that he was completely serious about his absurd-sounding proposition—it wasn't so much something he wanted, but something he _needed_.

"Alright," Dr. Crawford finally spoke, "I'm not guaranteeing anything, but I may be able to set you up with something. But I also can't attest to how long that will take to arrange."

Mike grinned slightly at his plan's success as he stood from the chair. "I appreciate it, Dr. Crawford," he said as he reached into his duster, pulling out a small piece of paper from it that he tossed onto his former therapist's desk.

"That's my phone number," Mike explained as Dr. Crawford picked up the piece of paper to examine it, "If you need to contact me."

He now turned towards the door as he said, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere I need to be later."

Dr. Crawford grinned as he looked from the paper to Mike. "Off to see your old friends?" he guessed, "Mr. Stark, Miss Livesey, and Miss Alyssum?"

Mike froze as he laid his hand on the door handle when he heard those names. "How are they?" he asked, a mixture of concern and curiosity in his voice.

"It's been rough for them since you left; especially in dealing with Mr. Sullivan," Dr. Crawford admitted, "But they've lasted this long. And I know they've missed you; more than you probably care to believe."

Mike gave a small chuckle, but then went quiet again before he spoke with a tone that was seldom heard in Mike's voice: compassion.

"What about Violet?" he asked, "How's she been?"

"She was definitely the most affected by your disappearance," Dr. Crawford replied, a small grin coming to his face as he added, "But it might interest you to know that she has your name scribbled on a lot of her school folders."

Mike smiled slightly at that thought. "Thanks again, Dr. Crawford," he said again, before walking out of the office and closing the door behind him.

As he made his way back to the elevator, his footsteps seemed fade out as he withdrew into his mind, lingering on the memories that Dr. Crawford's questioning had brought up inside of him—the "accident," the events of the last two years, and the pain that both of those sets of memories brought him.

As he rode back down the elevator again, the last question Dr. Crawford had asked Mike concerning his last two years still lingered in his mind. He shot a glare at the small spot on his arm that he had grasped earlier. It was almost funny to him now—how such a small thing had thrust him into a life he never would've thought of living in his wildest dreams...

* * *

 ** _\- FLASHBACK -_**

When Mike regained consciousness, he honestly thought he was dead.

All he could remember were the feelings of exhaustion and agony that had taken over his body before his collapse, and he could've sworn that it would be the end for him. But now, as his eyes fluttered open, he realized his thirst had been quenched, and he felt energized for the first time in what felt like an eternity.

He sat himself up and scanned his environment: he appeared to be in a undecorated, wooden cabin of some kind. He was lying on a simple cot, next to which was a small table with a water watter and a plate with a sliced up bread loaf on it. Nearby was a larger wooden table with three chairs tucked underneath its sides. Atop it was a candle, a matchbox, and a small pile of pens and pencils. The rest of the table was occupied with a large map that took up the rest of the space.

As he scanned the unfamiliar surroundings, the only door that appeared to lead inside the cot swung open, allowing entry to the same black-haired man he remembered seeing before collapsing.

"So you survived," the man said with an odd accent that Mike couldn't recognize, "Good. My treating you wasn't for nothing after all."

Mike now shifted himself so he was sitting up facing the man, still trying to focus his eyes. He couldn't help but sound slightly scared as he asked, "W-where am I...?"

But the old man only turned his back, saying as he did so: "Come. I'll show you."

Mike's eyebrows rose as the man moved back into the other room beyond the door. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to follow the stranger or not. But considering that this man had to have saved his life, he couldn't see any reason _not_ to trust him for the time being.

So with his mind made up, he stood from the small cot and walked towards the door to follow the man. But the moment he opened the door and stepped outside, his heart nearly stopped out of shock at the sight of his new environment:

He'd walked out onto a wooden deck that overlooked a small, western-style town that he'd only ever seen the likes of in movies. A wide, sandy road was the pathway between the buildings that made up the town. The people walking around were all dressed in clothes appropriate for the setting and weather: men wore variants of outfits consisting of button-up shirts, frilled vests, chaps, boots, and different styles of cowboy hats; some women were dressed up in similar outfits of the like, but others were also gussied up in prairie dresses. There were few others who were dressed in more modernized garb, such as designer shirts, jeans, sneakers, and various jackets.

The ambient echo of neighing horses intermingled with the sound of the citizens' chattering voices as Mike stared out at them, while the older man whom he'd followed outside moved to stand beside him as he said: "Welcome to Frontier Haven."

Mike stood there in silence for a moment. The only thing he could do was blink, figuring that when he reopened his eyes, he'd find that was hallucinating—that County Dame had suddenly turned into an old Hollywood movie set for a best-selling western thriller, and he'd find himself still in his bed at the orphanage. But he found this wasn't the case when he opened his eyes again: he really _was_ standing before an old western town.

"I take it that you're in shock," the scraggly-haired man spoke, his gaze still focused on the town before them.

Mike now turned his attention to the man. "What is this place...?" he tried to sound more confident than he felt.

The older man now walked past Mike, moving to the other side of the wooden deck they were standing upon as he looked out to the other side of the town before replying: "A place of purgatory."

Mike's gaze had followed the man as he walked, but when he heard this he raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Purgatory...?"

"Yes," the aged man confirmed as he continued gazing upon Frontier Haven, "A place where the evil of the world comes to die."

Mike suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable as he stepped a few paces away from the man. Was he supposed to be the "evil of the world" that had to die? He couldn't understand why, as he'd never done anything awful or even remotely malicious in his life, save for the "accident" that he'd blamed himself for so many years ago...

"Who are you...?" Mike now questioned, not wanting to beat around the bush like this guy seemed to be doing.

The aged man finally turned to meet Mike's eyes. "My apologies; I seem to have forgotten even the most common of courtesies over the years," he admitted, "My name is Samael."

"Alright, _now_ we're getting somewhere..." Mike said, glad to have finally heard this stranger say something normal for a change.

The man named Samael chuckled. "I apologize if my words sound cryptic, but I'm afraid that they're nevertheless true," he explained, "This place really _is_ purgatory."

"What do you mean?" Mike asked, trying to make his confusion sound more obvious to urge Samael to explain more.

Samael's face turned grim, as if a dark memory had resurfaced in his mind. This made Mike uneasy, as he didn't know whether or not he should've been terrified by this sudden change of expression. On the one hand, he hadn't once presented himself as threatening towards Mike so far; in fact, he'd actually proven to be quite decent with him, despite his cryptic words. But on the other hand, he had no idea how Samael would react if Mike said anything that was out of line to him; for all he knew, the man was ready to kill Mike at a moment's notice, one way or another.

But thankfully, Samael's next action was in no way concerning for Mike at all: instead, he merely moved his right hand towards the left sleeve of his duster as he spoke: "Tell me, son... do you know what _this_ is?"

Mike's eyes now followed the man's hand as it pulled up his sleeve, and what was revealed beneath it sent a shock through him: it was the _same exact_ X-shaped scar that he had on his own left arm—the same scar that had burned until he started following the path that led him here.

"Th-that's impossible..." Mike stammered in his disbelief, "That's the same scar that I have..."

" _That_ is the Mark of Death," Samael explained, "And I used mine to draw you out here."

Mike looked down to where his own Mark was underneath his sleeve. "So that was _you_ causing that burning..." Mike figured, "And why it hurt less the more I walked in this direction..."

"That's right," Samael confirmed as he pulled his sleeve down again, turning to look out at the town before them once more.

"But why me?" Mike implored further, "What's so special about me that you brought me all the way out here?"

"Nothing," Samael said, bringing a surprised look to Mike's face, "When my Mark draws out another Mark-bearer like yourself, it's usually random. I've called upon others who have traveled across the world to come here before."

Mike's eyes widened. "Wait a sec..." he said, "You're telling me there's MORE people like us with this thing...?"

"Correct," Samael replied, "In fact, this entire town's population is made up of people who bear it as well. Many of whom I summoned here with my Mark as well."

Mike turned his gaze back to the town and its inhabitants below him. So all these people had the same "Mark of Death" on their arms too, but what was the point of gathering so many people with the same thing on their arms in one place like this...?

"But I digress."

Samael's voice interrupted Mike's thoughts, bringing him back to reality as he now said, "There is still more for you to learn; but for the time being, it's time for your test.

"And I believe your proctor..." he eerily spoke as he looked out into the town again, "Should be arriving right about _now._ "

Mike turned his head to look where Samael was: walking towards them was a man wearing what looked like a tattered, dark-red cape, held together in the front with many buckles. The fabric with said buckles wrapped around his shoulders, which the cape protruded from in the back. The rest of his attire beneath the cape was a navy-blue shirt with dark pants, which was also decorated with buckles, belts, and pockets. His boots were also black, and at his side was what appeared to be the same kind of gun holster he'd seen on Samael before he'd collapsed. At full height, the man had to have been at least 6'2".

The man's long, unattended hair was raven-colored, and held up with a red headband. His piercing, crimson eyes made Mike feel uneasy without them even needing to lock with his own, and his face bore a brooding scowl that Mike could tell didn't leave his face often.

As the overwhelming figure now reached the front of the deck, Samael looked to him with a smile. "Good morning, Aeron," he addressed him like an old friend.

"Samael," the man named Aeron acknowledged. His voice was deep and dark, and the sound of it sent shivers down Mike's spine.

Samael, with his attention still focused on Aeron, gestured towards Mike with his head as he said, "This boy's our newest citizen. Teach him what he needs to know."

"Understood," the man named Aeron replied.

Samael grinned at him before turning to Mike again one more time. "Aeron here will explain more to you," he told Mike with a pat on his shoulder, "Listen and learn well."

And with that, Samael gave Aeron one last nod before entering back into the small shack that he and Mike had exited minutes prior. Now Aeron looked to Mike, his velvet eyes piercing into Mike's ocean-blue orbs.

"You," Aeron spoke tonelessly, "Follow me."

And with that, Aeron turned and began walking back in the same direction he'd came through the western-style town. Mike's mind raced in that millisecond that he had to make a choice: he could either go along with this and follow the one man he'd ever met that nearly scared him to the point of soiling himself, or he could try to make a break for it and get out of this "Frontier Haven" place.

But he quickly realized that option B didn't seem like much of a good choice. For one thing, he had no idea _where_ he was, so it was more likely that he would end up lost in the desert before dying of exhaustion like he almost had before. For another, he had a feeling that the man named Aeron might try to chase after him, and he had a feeling that he wouldn't be afraid to use that revolver he'd seen in his holster.

That all said, it was clear to Mike that he had no other choice in the matter if he, at least, wanted a _chance_ to live. So with one more nervous gulp, Mike found his strength and followed Aeron into the town.

 ** _\- FLASHBACK END -_**

* * *

Dexterity High's last bell rang, signaling the end of the school day as students emerged from their classrooms, hastily making their ways down the halls and stairs to reach the glass double-doors that were the school's primary entrance and exit.

Danny and Violet met up with Marina on the second floor, where her last class of the day had finished. "So I was planning on searching the city to try and find Mike," Danny explained to the girls, trying to make himself heard over the crowd of students flooding through the hallway, "You girls with me?"

"Well, I had that idea myself..." Marina admitted, "But where exactly would we even start looking for him?"

Danny pursed his lips, before the both of them now turned to Violet. She could feel both of her friends' gazes on her as she recalled Mike's words from earlier that morning: _'Bring the others to the usual spot after school. I'll meet you there.'_

"Well..." she finally spoke up, "Mike actually told me when I grabbed him earlier that he wanted to meet us at the usual spot after school."

Both Danny's and Marina's eyes lit up as they looked to each other with broad smiles, and then back to Violet as Danny exclaimed, "Well, why didn't you say so sooner? Let's get a move on!"

And with that, the three friends followed the end of the crowd out of the school building, and began walking into the city.

The friends' "usual spot," as they called it, was an old, abandoned construction site near the northwestern edge of the city. The area was enclosed within a chain link fence, with numerous **"DO NOT ENTER"** signs scattered along it. Incidentally, that was actually why Mike had thought of it as the perfect spot for them to hang out when they'd first started high school: no one could bother them if they were hiding where they weren't supposed to be in the first place. But after Mike's disappearance, the three remaining friends found themselves meeting up there less and less, until they eventually stopped meeting up there altogether.

"Why _did_ this place get shut down anyway...?" Marina pondered as they walked through the front gate in the chain link fence.

"Well, from what I heard," Danny replied, "This was actually planned to be a middle school branch for Dexterity High. But there was some sort of mishap where a bunch of cement pipes ended up falling on the workers here ten years ago, so they shut the project down. Since then, people have said that they've heard a lot of 'ghostly voices' whispering in the winds around here at night."

Marina rolled her eyes at Danny's story. "So _that's_ why this place hasn't been touched in years?" she asked with a deadpan, "Who still believes in ghosts?"

"Well, Mike certainly seemed to," Danny figured, "Why do you think he always had us leaving before six PM?"

"I thought it was his set curfew by the nun at his orphanage or something..." Marina reasoned, "I've never heard of anyone else in County Dame being afraid of ghosts."

"Well duh," Danny retorted, "No one's gonna openly admit to believing in ghosts!"

While the two continued to bicker as they approached an old trailer, Violet silently followed suit as her racing thoughts blocked out her friends' voices. She couldn't help but feel apprehensive about seeing Mike again due to her earlier concerns about how much he might've changed. This meeting would either prove that she'd been needlessly worried about him for all this time,

Now she shook her head as they entered into the old workers' trailer, trying to shake that thought out of her mind. Instead, she brought her attention to the inside of the old trailer she hadn't been in for so long as she walked inside: there was a small table, a few scattered chairs, a couch, and a small television that didn't even work scattered across the room. With no electricity to power anything, the small space could only serve as a small hangout space, but that had always been more than satisfactory for the four friends back in the day.

Everyone took their places in their old spots that they always used to sit in: Danny sat backwards on a chair while holding his skateboard; Marina took a chair and put her feet up on one of the small tables; Violet sat on the couch, where she and Mike always sat together after school every day.

As they waited, Danny kept his eyes focused on the window, expecting to see their old friend at any given moment. Marina kept herself busy by studying her notes for her upcoming Health test the following day. Violet, meanwhile, tried to keep her mind empty of all the concerning thoughts that she had been having since that morning. She should have been happy: the boy she loved was finally back and was going to be with her again, but instead she couldn't help but fear for the worst...

"And our guest of honor has arrived!" Danny suddenly cried out, giving Marina a startled jump as Violet's eyes lit up, and she instantly dashed for the door to open it, wanting to see Mike before anyone else.

And sure enough, the moment that door swung open, there he was: walking towards the trailer with his head slightly bowed, and his long hair hiding his eyes from Violet's sight, concealing whatever expression was upon his face.

He stopped a few paces away from the trailer door as the others gathered behind Violet. Mike finally lifted his head so that his face could be seen, and the others all beamed to see him smiling slightly.

"Hey, long time no see, old friend!" Danny cheered happily as he pushed past Violet and jumped the stairs leading in and out of the trailer, wrapping his arms around Mike's neck in a bear hug.

"If one thing hasn't changed," Mike said flatly, "I'm still not a fan of hugs."

Danny immediately loosened his grip on Mike as he awkwardly released him. Now the girls came out from the trailer as well as Marina greeted cheerfully, "Welcome back!"

"Thanks," Mike replied, and then locked eyes with Violet.

She immediately blushed for a moment before regaining the color in her face, saying, "I'm glad to see you again."

"Likewise," Mike said, his tone somewhat different than that of the way he spoke to anyone else.

No one else but Violet noticed this, and she broke the eye contact as she looked to the ground shyly. Little did she know that Mike understood what was running through her mind, especially after learning from Dr. Crawford about what she liked to scribble on her folders in her free time.

"Man, you've missed a hell of a lot over the last couple of years!" Danny's voice cut into these thoughts as he grabbed Mike by the arm, practically dragging him into the trailer as the girls followed them inside.

Danny immediately started off talking about the things that had happened since Mike had departed before everybody had even finished sitting down again. Marina often chimed in either to make a point or to mention something that made Danny look like a laughingstock, which brought numerous irksome looks to his face as he kept telling her to shut up, to which she only laughed harder at him.

As Mike listened intently to the stories, occasionally giving a small chuckle whenever a funny part was mentioned, Violet sat beside him on the couch, her eyes not lingering from his face. Everyone else was so wrapped up in Danny's stories that no one had noticed her staring at Mike, not even Mike himself. Despite the extremely happy feeling she had at _finally_ having the person she cared for most in the world back, she still had that same feeling that he wasn't all there—like a part of him was missing.

She could definitely tell that Mike had lost a lot of patience while he was gone from the duel with Josiah, and he definitely didn't like to tolerate crap coming from anyone. But she knew that there had to have been more to it than that; she just couldn't lay a finger down on what it was.

Eventually, Danny's long-windedness finally came to an end as he concluded his compilation of tales with, "And then today you showed up, and finally gave Josiah the ass-kicking he deserved!"

Mike nodded his head as he gave a small grin and clapped. "A well-told set of stories, Danny..." Mike complimented his old friend, placing his hands down as he continued, "Guess I really have missed out on a lot."

"Oh, yeah," Marina agreed, "To quote the opening line of _A Tale of Two Cities_ : 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.'"

Danny looked to her with a confused expression. "Just what exactly does Charles Dickens have to do with my stories?" he asked her with raised eyebrows.

"Well, those may have been some of our 'best times,' but they were also our 'worst times' 'cause Mike was missing from them," explained Marina.

That hit a deep spot in each of the gathered friends' spirits. Not only had what she'd said been beautifully poetic and well-thought of, but it was ultimately true. Mike was the one who'd brought them all together at the beginning of their friendship—the glue that bound them all to be as close as they were today.

Now Danny leaned further against his chair as he looked to Mike. "Alright, enough about us!" he said with a grin, "Your turn! Where've you been all this time?"

Immediately Mike's expression fell, and Violet suddenly became frightened. It was not only clear that there was no way Mike would disclose what he had been through, but that stern frown told her that it had affected him a LOT worse than she—or any of them—could have even imagined.

"I'm sorry, guys..." Mike answered, "But I'm afraid I can't tell you anything."

"Oh, c'mon!" Danny retorted as he leaned back in his chair slightly, earning a rolling of the eyes from Marina, "I just practically lost my voice covering the last two years of OUR lives for you, but you won't do it for us?!"

"It's not about how much I have to tell," Mike replied sternly, "It's about _what_ I have to tell."

Only now did Danny realize that Mike had become completely serious, and he could now see the grim look on Mike's face. Violet could tell by his look of realization that he was beginning to realize that whatever Mike had to tell was probably more than they could handle. And what was more, it looked like Mike had barely been able to handle it himself.

Danny calmed himself down with a long sigh, followed by a mild pause before suggesting, "Alright, well... if you won't give us the story, then I'll just have to EARN the story!"

Confusion momentarily spread across Violet's and Marina's faces as Danny stood up, his arm extended and his finger pointing to Mike as he challenged: "What say we have a duel? If I win, then you gotta spill the beans about what you've been up to the last two years; but if you win, then I'll let it go!"

"Danny!" Marina snapped as she shot him a look, "You can't force him to tell you if he doesn't want to!"

But Danny ignored Marina's words as he stared into Mike's eyes, clearly confident that Mike would take on his challenge anyway. Violet now looked from Danny to Mike anxiously, as the latter just stared back as his standing friend with a blank expression. There was no way of predicting how Mike would react to anything after today, and all she could do was just hold her breath as she, Marina, and Danny waited for Mike's response.

Finally, Mike closed his eyes calmly as he gave a small "Hmph," followed by, "Fine. Not like you'll win, anyway."

Marina shook her head as Violet gave a small sigh of relief, glad to see that Mike seemed to remain undeterred in accepting any challenge. Danny, meanwhile, slapped his knee excitedly as he cried, "That's what I like to hear! Let's get this duel on the road, then!"

But as Marina pulled out her phone to check the time, her face paled as she saw what time it was: "Uh, you guys might wanna save the duel for another time..." she suggested as she looked up to them all, "It's a little past six..."

Danny immediately whipped out his phone to confirm it as Mike and Violet both glanced at their watches to see she was right. "Aw, damn!" Danny cried out as he leapt from his seat, looking to Mike for one more moment as he said, "Well, fine; then let's throw down after school tomorrow!"

And with that, he took a leaping bound over the concrete steps, landing on his skateboard beneath his feet as he skated out through the gate and back into the city as he cried back to his friends, "Later, guys!"

Marina could only sigh as she and the others followed suit, stepping outside from the trailer. "See you tomorrow then," she said to Mike and Violet before walking towards her home as well.

Mike watched her as she too made her way through the gate as well, before he felt Violet tap him on his shoulder. He turned to face her as she quickly told him, "Hey, if you can, find some way to contact me tonight. I want to talk to you about something."

And with that, she dashed off after the others before Mike could get a chance to reply. He was left standing there, wondering just what she could want to talk to him about when they'd just spent the last few hours covering over EVERYTHING from the last two years on their end. Perhaps it had something to do with the feelings for him that she harbored...?

Mike pushed the thought out from his mind. He would have time to think about it once he found a place to spend the night, which was now his current priority. So with that in mind, he made his way through the site's gate and walked into the city, ready to search for a place where he could sleep.

* * *

 **Next Time**

 **Chapter 3: "Strength"**

* * *

 ** _\- Last Revised: Jul. 1, 2017 -_**


	3. Strength

**Yu-Gi-Oh! Mark of Death**

 **Chapter 3: "Strength"**

 **Opening Theme: "Raining" by Art Of Dying**

 **Ending Theme: "Behind Blue Eyes" by Limp Bizkit**

* * *

County Dame's cityscape was vast and widespread: large structures and buildings played host as headquarters for various businesses and companies. Those who actually lived in the city either resided in nice, roomy apartments, or owned their own houses amongst the buildings. There were a few smaller, shabbier apartments built out of bricks, where those without as much money resided.

It was around 9 PM when the moon finally came out from behind the veil of clouds in the night sky. Its light shined down on Mike as he made his way past all of the buildings around him, heading towards the edge of the city as cars and trucks flew by him on the busy streets.

Eventually, he saw where he was headed towards in the distance: a small, one-floor motel that looked like it had survived a nuclear disaster due to its age. Atop it was a sign that read **"County Dame Motel"** in bold, neon-red letters.

Mike had seen it when he'd first arrived back in the city that morning. It was his one and only place he knew he could stay without attracting attention, considering the place was more often home to tourists, which were scarce enough as it was.

When he finally stepped inside of the motel, he took note of his surroundings: the walls that were once a tan, beige color were now faded, and a single maroon door that must have led to the rentable rooms was placed on the opposite wall next to the sliding glass mini-doors above the reception counter. Behind the glass, Mike could see an old man with stringy gray hair sitting bored in his lonely office, until his eyes came into contact with Mike's.

"Hello, and welcome to the County Dame Motel!" he ran what must have been his usual introductory spiel, "All I need is your name and how many nights you'll be staying, and you can either pay now or before you leave!"

Mike approached the desk casually as he reached into his duster's inner pockets. From them he pulled three one-hundred dollar bills and placed them on the desk in front of the old man, who looked from the money to Mike with a greedy look on his face. It was obvious he didn't get much business as it was, so any amount of money like that placed in front of him must have always put a smile on his face.

"What say you give me a room for two nights, for now..." Mike asked in both a calm but stern tone, "And forget the name?"

The old man took a moment to think about this before giving into his avarice: "Alright, deal!" he agreed as he took the money and placed it away in his register, and then reached for a small envelope at his side that he then handed to Mike; "In here's the key to room 103; please make sure you return it before leaving."

"Right," Mike confirmed his understanding, "Thanks."

And without another word, Mike stepped through the red door into a long, bland hallway. He perused each of the doors, searching for the one his key was supposed to go to, until he finally found it near the end of the hallway. He took the old, rusted key from the envelope and inserted it into the door's lock, turning it to open the door.

Inside, the small room was the same faded beige color that the rest of the place was. A box-shaped, twelve-inch television was mounted atop a desk on the right side of the room from the door. To the left was a small bed with a red comforter and white sheets, next to a small night stand with a lamp that was already lit on it. A fairly-sized window was on the wall opposite of the door, but the only view it provided was a good look at the parking lot.

Mike threw himself on his bed, still completely clothed, and pulled from his pocket a small, touch-screen cell phone. He unlocked it, bringing him to the home screen that was set with an old picture that had been taken years ago:

It was Mike, Violet, Danny, and Marina at the beach four years ago, celebrating the former three's entry into high school. Marina had been there to celebrate with her friends, happy for them despite still being stuck in eighth grade. She had been shorter than all the others at the time, and her wet hair was still in the braid she'd put it in earlier that day. She was wearing pink sports shorts beneath a white sleeveless shirt, and appeared to have been laughing as the camera had clicked. She looked much different without her glasses on.

Danny was next to her, his arms around both Marina's and Mike's necks. His mouth hung open as he smiled, and his tanned, shirtless form was dripping from his previous dip in the ocean. His bathing suit was a red and orange color, nearly in perfect tone of color with his tan.

Mike stood next to him, a look of slight annoyance on his face from Danny's arm being around him, but a small smile was still there nonetheless. He too stood was shirtless, wearing nothing but his black and white-patterned bathing suit, and his hair, which had been a little shorter at the time, was a dripping wet mess.

Finally, Violet remained standing next to him. She had been wearing a purple bikini that day that matched the color of her hair perfectly. The one thing that Mike loved the most about Violet in this picture was the one thing about her that he hadn't seen all day: the warm smile that he had used to always see on her. He wanted to see that smile again—not from some picture, but in person.

Despite the many message and call notifications his phone was showing him from his time out in Frontier Haven, he paid them no mind as he went into his messages, pulled up Violet's contact before texting her:

 ** _Mike:_** **hey, are you still awake?**

He waited for a few moments before the texting system symbolized that Violet had received the message, and was typing back before he received:

 ** _Violet:_** **hey, yeah. im glad you could make it :)**

Mike smiled slightly to himself. He may not have seen her smile today, but seeing a smiley emoticon would have to suffice for the time being.

 ** _Mike:_** **im honestly amazed this old phone still works after all these years.**

 ** _Violet:_** **haha, yeah, that's pretty amazing alright.**

Mike contemplated what he ought to say next. She was the one who wanted to talk to him in the first place, so he just waited for her to continue. And sure enough, the chat symbolized that she was typing, but he only received:

 ** _Violet:_** **so... :/**

He could understand what was going through her mind: it was awkward since it was the first time that the two had spoken privately in a _long_ time, and she was struggling just as much as he was to figure out what to say. So he tried to remind her just why he'd texted her in the first place:

 ** _Mike:_** **so... there was something you wanted to talk about?**

She took a while before responding:

 ** _Violet:_** **um... yeah... nevermind.**

 ** _Mike:_** **cmon, you can tell me.**

 ** _Violet:_** **well...**

Mike now waited again, but not for very long:

 ** _Violet:_** **why did you go away?**

 _'No crap and straight to the point, with only a small tad of hesitation. Violet hasn't changed much...'_ Mike figured silently as he replied:

 ** _Mike:_** **a lot of personal crap. itd take a while to explain.**

 ** _Violet:_** **its cuz of what happened before right?**

Mike had been half-hoping that she wouldn't figure it out, but on the other hand she deserved to know since she was closer to him than anyone, also he figured that her prior knowledge about him would easily help give it away to her.

 ** _Mike:_** **still nothing gets by you.**

 ** _Violet:_** **WTF were you thinking? you had me scared to death worrying D:**

His heart sank. He knew that she'd probably get all riled up about the potential danger he'd put himself in. And she only continued to beat down on him with guilt:

 ** _Violet:_** **do NOT tell me it had something to do with the accident. ive told theres no way that was your fault.**

Mike shook his head. She definitely _did_ know him too well. She had been there the day that the "accident" had occurred, and had watched it as it happened. Sometime later, she'd sat with him in an attempt to comfort him as he whimpered the words, "It's my fault..." continuously.

 ** _Mike:_** **my actions and the purposes behind them are my concern, not yours.**

He knew that was a bad thing to respond with before he'd typed it, but he wanted to at least try and lay the law down that she didn't need to get involved. But of course, she didn't budge:

 ** _Violet:_** **you dont know how much i care about you, do you?**

Mike resisted revealing about how he knew of the scribbles that were sprawled on her folders, and instead replied:

 ** _Mike:_** **feel free to describe it if you like.**

He had her cornered: either she caved and talked about what she truly felt, or find a way to slide out of it. And when she responded, she had cleverly used option B:

 ** _Violet:_** **weve known each other since we were kids, remember?**

 ** _Mike:_** **fair point.**

Mike could now feel the heat that had been building between the two settling down, and she replied after a minute or so:

 ** _Violet:_** **im sorry... i just really missed you :/**

Mike sighed exasperatedly. If there was one thing he was annoyed by more, it was dramatic moments.

 ** _Mike:_** **i missed you too.**

Another moment passed. Mike wondered if he ought to have hinted to her a little more just how much he had missed her. But he realized it was too late when she replied with:

 ** _Violet:_** **i gtg. ill see you tomorrow right?**

Mike just sighed once more. If she hadn't caught on, there'd be another day to try again.

 ** _Mike:_** **yeah. later, then.**

 ** _Violet:_** **goodnight :)**

And with that, he silently thanked his lucky stars once again that the drama hadn't lasted long. He had no idea what he'd say if she'd told him the truth about her emotions towards her. He didn't feel as if he was ready to tell her how he felt the same, and to top that off—after the horrid acts he'd committed—he didn't even feel worthy of her affection.

He now shut his phone off, placing it down on the nightstand next to him before he rolled himself over onto his side. He didn't even bother with the provided comforter and sheet—his duster was more than enough comfort for him to fall asleep.

* * *

 ** _\- FLASHBACK -_**

As Mike followed the man named Aeron through the western-style town that was Frontier Haven, he got a chance to take in more of his new surroundings: aligning the center road of the town was a mix of various kinds of shops: saloons, tailors, taverns, stables etc. Intermingled among the different shops were more plain-looking buildings with no labels or signs out front, but instead were decorated with all sorts of different things such as flowers, chimes, and other kinds of front-yard ornaments, which could only have meant that they were the homes of the townspeople.

Amidst the many citizens dressed in the western-style clothes he'd seen earlier, he was now beginning to see a lot more variety in the garbs that people were wearing: from leather jackets to rags, from farmer's overalls to a young, city woman's stylish apparel. Others were dressed in more foreign garments than what Mike was used to, such as robes that looked as though they belonged to Buddhist monks, and Chinese Kung Fu shirts.

 _'Samael wasn't joking when he'd said he's brought in people from all over...'_ Mike realized silently as he followed Aeron round a corner into another part of town.

Now he focused his attention back on the man he was following. He could sense practically _nothing_ from this man, both literally and figuratively. The man seemed incapable of portraying any kind of emotion, and Mike couldn't feel any kind of human-like vibe from him. The only word that came to Mike's mind to describe this man's aura was "deathly," which wasn't a comforting thought in the slightest.

"Tell me something," Aeron suddenly inquired, bringing Mike out of his thoughts with a jolt, "Have you ever been in a fight for your life before?"

Mike shook his head as he pondered the question. "Not unless you count my stopping jerks from beating me and my friends up back at school..." he reasoned, but he doubted that this answer was anywhere close to what Aeron was referring to.

It was in this moment that Mike realized that the two of them had suddenly arrived at what appeared to be the edge of the town, as they walked out under what was an arching overhead sign with the name **"FRONTIER HAVEN"** printed on it in big, bold letters.

"So what're we doing out here anyway?" Mike asked.

"This is where I'll be testing you," Aeron spoke simply without so much as a glance towards Mike, "To see if you're capable of being one of Samael's soldiers."

Mike stopped in his tracks at this statement as his eyebrows rose in confusion. "Wait, what the hell do you mean by _soldier_...?" he demanded to know, his heart beginning to race.

Aeron, having not stopped walking outwards a little more, explained: "Not far from here is another town called Saddleburry. That place is controlled by a man named Keir and his gang of duelists, the Romans. Once every week, someone from that town and someone from here square off in a duel to the _death_."

Mike became petrified where he stood when he heard those words, while Aeron continued: "Samael and Keir take turns each week choosing two duelists—one from each town—to duel.

"And since I'm the best duelist Frontier Haven has," Aeron now stopped about ten feet away from Mike before turning to finally face him again, "Samael's always chosen me to face off against Keir's men when it's his turn to choose who fights. However, Samael or Keir could just as easily choose to pit either themselves or anyone else against each other.

"Unfortunately," Aeron almost sounded like it hurt him to say what he was about to, "Samael knows that Keir is too strong for him, and he's never allowed me to face him out of fear that I'll lose. And in the last twenty-six years that Keir has been in charge of the Romans, no one has ever dared to challenge him.

"That's why Samael continues to bring out more Mark-bearers like you," Aeron explained, "He's hoping someone will come along whose strength will be enough to outmatch Keir's one day, so we can finally put an end to this war."

"What do you mean?" Mike asked, trying desperately to control the fear that was coursing through his mind now.

"This whole system was devised by Keir years ago," was Aeron's answer, "We were forced into it; if we don't fight, then he and his Romans will burn Frontier Haven to the ground, and kill everyone in it without a second thought."

Mike had to stop and think about what he was hearing again for a moment. "So, this Keir guy... and the rest of his 'Romans'... I'm guessing they all have this 'Mark of Death' on them too?"

Aeron's answer came in the form of him pushing up his left-arm sleeve, revealing his own X-shaped scar etched into his skin to Mike. "Just like you, me, and everyone else in Frontier Haven do," he confirmed before pulling his sleeve back down.

Mike took a moment now to let everything he'd just heard settle in as he tried to regain some composure. So the man named Samael that he'd met earlier was hoping that he'd be the one to defeat this Keir person in a duel... and then _kill_ him...?

Mike's blood felt like it had turned to ice with that thought. He couldn't even _imagine_ having to kill somebody, even if his life depended on it. The idea of dueling to the death alone was barbaric enough, but to be expected to _do_ it...

Now he managed to lock eyes with Aeron again. "Just how would you expect me to kill this Keir guy, anyway...?" he asked with a shaky breath.

Aeron's took the gun from the holster at his side and held it near his wrist, where it then seemed to firmly attach itself to him as the gun's barrel transformed itself into a Duel Monsters deck zone; while from the side of it fanned out the monster and spell/trap card zones.

"Put it this way," Aeron stated coldly, "That duel disk isn't just shaped like a gun for looks."

Now Mike's wide eyes were transfixed on Aeron's oddly-shaped duel disk. He was so distracted by what he'd just learned about the contraption before him that he didn't see Aeron now launch a long, steel cable at Mike's duel disk arm, latching onto him tightly and making him wince in pain for a moment as he registered what had just happened.

"I assume the deck case on your belt has your deck in it," Aeron reasoned as he now attached the other end of the steel cable to his own revolver-disk, "So let's see what it's made of."

Mike looked from the duel anchor to Aeron as he then used his free right arm to reach into his cape, from which he pulled out another revolver-shaped duel disk, which he then tossed to Mike, who barely managed to catch it.

Now Mike looked down to the duel disk he held in his hands. If he accepted this duel, then that meant there was no turning back from joining this cause to stand against whoever this "Keir" character was. But could he really bring himself to sign on for a job that meant he might've had to kill a man? And for people he had just met and had no business with otherwise...?

"What if I refuse?" Mike finally mustered some courage to retort against this, though he had a bad feeling about what Aeron's answer would be.

And of course, to his dismay, Aeron lifted his duel disk up before answering with, "Then you'll find out the hard way that this is more than just a duel disk."

So it was either go through with all this, or die. Aeron had painted a pretty clear picture to Mike that there was only going to be one way he was going to be able to live through this, if not for just a little while longer.

He finally gave in and followed Aeron's example, attaching the oddly-shaped duel disk to his arm before taking out his deck and shuffling it hastily. "Guess I don't have a choice, then," he figured as he then slid his deck into the duel disk's deck zone, activating it in doing so.

For the first time, Aeron cracked a small smile at Mike's submission. "That's the spirit," he spoke as he now drew five cards, "Now, let's see what you're made of."

Mike dealt his own five cards before he and Aeron finally cried out, "LET'S DUEL!"

 ** _\- FLASHBACK END -_**

* * *

The morning sun rose high above County Dame the next morning. The students of Dexterity High were dropped off from their buses in front of the large school near the heart of the city. Out of all of the students, Josiah Sullivan was the only one absent, apparently still recovering from the humiliation he'd suffered at Mike's hands.

Violet stepped off of the stairs of her bus to the tiled walkway, her conversation with Mike the previous night bustling in her mind like her surrounding fellow classmates. She clutched her books and folders close to her chest as she bowed her head, trying to keep as much to herself as possible to allow her thoughts to continue undisturbed.

Her plan to try and muster up the courage to try and tell him just how she truly felt about him had failed. In the end, she had forced herself to not do it over that chat, deciding that when she told him about her true emotions towards him, she wanted to do it face to face; not over a Facebook chat where it didn't feel like it meant anything. Violet wanted her confession to show that he meant everything to her.

Aside from that... there was still only one other thing on Violet's mind that morning: what if, in truth, he only cared about her so much as a friend? That was the main thing that was holding her back as well. She'd dropped hints to him many times before—only vaguely so as to not give it fully away—but there had been moments where she'd inadvertently let too much emotion show as well. If he'd picked up on it by now when he still hadn't reacted to it, it only meant he was as much of a jerk to just let Violet get her hopes up, or Mike really did like her back and didn't know how to react...

As Violet sat down in Mr. Carnell's class once again, she hoped that the second possibility was the truth. She couldn't bear the thought of him not having feelings for her back.

Her mind was so far away from reality, she didn't even notice Danny literally leaping into the seat next to her excitedly, no matter how noticeably obnoxious he was being.

"Man, I am SO pumped for today!" he said enthusiastically, "I'm finally gonna get to have my rematch with Mike!"

He turned to look at Violet, and his smile turned into a concerned frown when he saw how distanced she was. He nudged her gently as his words worked their way into her mind: "Penny for your thoughts?"

Violet looked over to him now, and just shook her head. "Just... it's been a lot to take in, y'know? Kinda still getting used to the fact that he's actually back..."

Danny nodded his understanding as he put his feet up on his desk. "Yeah, I'm still getting over it myself, I'll admit..." he told her, putting his arm around her again, "But hey, you just gotta be happy about it, am I right? I mean, yeah, he seems to have been through a lot; and maybe he's gone through a few changes, but so what? At least he's alive!"

Violet brushed Danny's arm off her shoulder with annoyance now. Normally she appreciated Danny comforting her, but she didn't like what she was hearing from him right now. "Have you even thought about the possibility that he might not be the same person we used to know?" she shot at him.

Danny looked long and hard into Violet's worrisome face, even after she looked away from him. And despite his being somewhat slow, it eventually clicked in his mind as to what she was talking about. "Oh, I get it," he said casually, leaning back in his chair lazily, "You're worried he doesn't _'like'_ you anymore—"

"Don't say it so loud!" she snapped at Danny, startling him to the point that he nearly fell backwards in his chair.

"Sorry..." he apologized sincerely as he readjusted himself in his seat, "But seriously, why're you worried about that? It's been clear to me and Marina that you two have ALWAYS _liked_ each other! You think that might've changed over the last two years?"

"You make it sound like you know _for_ _sure_ that he didn't lose any affection he has for me," Violet retorted, looking to him as if daring him to admit he knew something she didn't.

But unfortunately, Danny only gave a heavy sigh. "Well, I wouldn't know about _that_..." he admitted, "But I _do_ know that, no matter what, he'd _never_ stop caring for you. He's an old-fashioned guy—once he sets his heart on someone or something, he stays true to them or that."

Violet wanted to believe Danny with all of her heart, but a part of her was still unsure. No one knew ANYTHING about what had happened to him while he was gone. Who knew what kind of people he might have interacted with? Who knew what _girls_ he might've met? That was a particularly disturbing thought to Violet: even if he hadn't lost his ability to love, what were yhr odds that he'd fallen for someone else...?

As these thoughts ran through her head, Mr. Carnell finally walked into the classroom saying, "Alright, everyone settle down please. Mr. Stark, get your feet off your desk!"

* * *

When the final bell rang, Violet and Danny exited their last class and then hugged the second floor hallway wall to allow the other students to pass by them while they waited for Marina to come down from the third floor. Violet was still being rather reserved, clutching her books and folders tightly to her chest. Noticing how her friend was still uptight, Danny leaned over to her to make himself heard over the crowd as he asked, "Hey, don't tell me you're _still_ worried?"

Violet shook her head. "Actually, now I'm more nervous about just seeing Mike again..." she lied, "I forgot what it was like to be nervous around the one you liked, y'know?"

Danny took a moment to consider what Violet had just said, and then shrugged before saying, "No, I don't know actually... never really liked anyone like that."

Violet took him saying this as an opportunity to get her mind off her troubles and tease him a little bit: "Oh, don't give me that crap. You're clearly into Marina!"

Danny's face flushed red at that. "I am NOT!" he shot back insistently, "I only ever made friends with her 'cause you were her first friend when she joined us in middle school!"

"Oh, please," Violet pressed, a smile coming to her face now, "The way you two are always arguing? You're practically an old married couple already!"

"She's a friggin' year younger than me!" Danny retorted with annoyance, "I'm not into girls who are younger than me!"

"Okay, okay..." Violet led him on, and his expression returned to normal for only a moment before Violet whispered in his ear, "But she's the only exception!"

Now Danny started glaring at Violet as he breathed heavily. "You can't hit a girl!" Violet reminded him with a sly smile, knowing that his usual reaction to Mike being a wise-ass would be to whack him in the head.

"What're you two talking about?"

Danny sharply turned around to face Marina at the sound of her voice. "Boxing!" he blurted out stupidly, "We were talking about boxing... and how Violet and I can't box... because I can't hit a girl..."

Now Violet was stifling a laugh at her friend's stupidity while Marina eyed Danny confusedly. "Okay..." she replied, sounding like she didn't quite believe him, "Well, at least you're enough of a gentleman to not hit a girl. Now c'mon, Mike's probably waiting for us outside!"

And just as she finished saying that, the last of the crowd finally was filing through the hallway, and Marina followed them. Danny stood there hitting his head against the lockers along the walls while Violet muttered to him, "Nice cover," before following Marina as well.

Danny hit his head one last time before following the girls now too, muttering to himself, "Boxing, Danny? Really?!"

* * *

The three of them made their way outside of the school building as the last school buses rolled away from the building into the city.

"So when d'ya suppose Mike's gonna get here, exactly?" Danny inquired as his eyes watched the last bus drive away.

"I don't know, actually..." Violet was the one to answer, "He never mentioned where he was staying."

"Well, I hope he remembered that school gets out right around now," Danny figured, "You'd think he'd have arrived ahead of time."

"I did, actually."

The three friends whipped around quickly to see where the voice had come from: there was Mike, leaning against the school building with his arms crossed. Just seeing him standing there made Violet's heart practically leap out of her chest from excitement.

Danny now darted a few paces backwards along the marble walkway away from the school as Mike took his position across from him, putting about ten feet between the two. Danny stood his ground as he dropped his book bag to his side.

"You remember our deal, right?" Danny reminded Mike as he pulled his duel disk from his bag, equipping it to his left arm, "If I win this duel, you're telling us what you've been up to these last couple of years!"

Mike drew his revolver-shaped duel disk from its holster and put it to his wrist, allowing it to activate as his deck appeared in its barrel. "Fine by me," Mike assured him as Danny activated his own disk, "Like I said before, you'll have to actually _beat_ me first."

Danny chuckled at that statement. "Big talk coming from someone who hasn't seen my new deck yet!" Danny exclaimed as a smile adorned his face.

Violet and Marina stood side-by-side a little ways away from the two guys. Marina was on edge waiting for them to begin, while Violet couldn't take her eyes off of Mike. She wanted to take in every detail of his being as it was now—she wanted to be able to replace the younger version of him she had preserved in her memory with what he looked like now.

Finally, Mike and Danny drew their five cards, and cried out "LET'S DUEL!"

 **[Mike – LP: 8000]**

 **[Danny – LP: 8000]**

"You can have the first move," Mike offered to his best friend, the cold and stern face that he'd showcased during his duel with Josiah now coming to his face.

"If you insist!" Danny cried as he drew first, "I'll start with my Machina Soldier!"

 **[Machina Soldier – LV: 4/ATK: 1600]**

Mike scoffed. "I thought you said that this was supposed to be a new deck," he shot at Danny, a small smile now coming to his face, "Yet you start off with your usual opening move."

"Don't worry!" Danny shot back as his smile broadened, "This deck's chock-full of new surprises! Now my Machina Soldier's effect lets me special summon my Machina Sniper!"

 **[Machina Sniper – LV: 4/ATK: 1800]**

"Then I'll activate the spell card, Machina Armored Unit!" Danny continued, "Which'll come in handy for me a little later!

"For now," he wrapped up, "I'll set two cards, and end my turn! Your go!"

Mike drew silently, and scanned his hand for an opening move.

"Just like last time, I'm gonna begin by activating my Constellar Star Chart!" Mike decided as his opening move, "And like your Machina Armored Unit, this'll help me out later.

"Next I summon my Constellar Pollux to the field!" Mike continued.

 **[Constellar Pollux – LV: 4/ATK: 1700]**

"And with Pollux's effect," Mike explained as he took another card from his hand, "Once per turn, I can normal summon any other Constellar monster in my hand in addition to my normal one! So I'll release my Pollux to advance summon Constellar Virgo!"

 **[Constellar Virgo – LV: 5/ATK: 2300]**

"And with its effect," Mike continued as he took yet another card from his hand, "I can now summon another LV 5 Constellar monster from my hand in DEF mode! So say hello to my Constellar Zubeneschamali!"

 **[Constellar Zubeneschamali – LV: 5/DEF: 1400]**

"That's quite the move," Marina said with a raised eyebrow, "I've never seen Mike bust out that many high-LV monsters before."

"Neither have I..." Violet agreed, her eyes now off of Mike and focused on the entirety of the duel at last, "He used to hate utilizing high-LV monsters."

"And now," Mike continued as he took a card that popped out from his deck, "Since my Zubeneschamali was successfully normal summoned, I can add one Constellar monster from my deck to my hand! And I choose my Constellar Sombre!

"Now I have two LV 5 monsters on my field!" Mike cried out as his Virgo and his Zubeneschamali now disappeared into a spatial portal, "So by overlaying them, I Xyz summon my Constellar Pleiades!"

 **[Constellar Pleiades – RK: 5/ATK: 2500]**

Danny marveled at Mike's Xyz monster with awe. "So I get to face off against the thing that took down Josiah?!" he said excitedly, "Aw, hell yes! Talk about the best day ever!"

"You won't face him just yet," Mike corrected as he drew a card, "My Constellar Star Chart comes first.

" _Now_ I'll launch my assault!" Mike cried as he now pointed to Danny's Sniper, "Constellar Pleiades, attack his Machina Soldier now!"

Pleiades took up its large blade and moved in to charge down Danny's Sniper, except Danny wasn't about to let that happen:

"Sniper, defend!" he cried out as his other mechanical monster suddenly threw itself in front of Machina Soldier, intercepting Pleiades as he swung his blade, only to have destroyed a different target.

 **[Danny – LP: 7300]**

As Pleiades took its place back at the front lines of Mike's field, Mike's eyes narrowed as Danny smirked. "Sorry, Mike," he apologized, "But my Sniper has the ability to swoop in and defend any of my other Machina monsters if they're targeted for an attack!

"And since you destroyed him, my Machina Armored Unit now triggers!" Danny explained, "With it, I can special summon another machine-type monster, as long as it's ATK is lower than the monster just destroyed, has the same attribute!

"So come on out!" Danny cried out as he took a card from his deck, "Scrap Recycler!"

 **[Scrap Recycler – LV: 3/DEF: 1200]**

"And upon its cameo on the field," Danny explained, "It can take any machine-type monster in my deck, and send it to the graveyard!"

Mike watched as Danny sent his Commander Covington from his deck to his graveyard, realizing all too well just what he was planning on doing in the next turn.

This strategy did not go unnoticed by Violet or Marina as well. "He's seriously thinking that he can bring his 'big win' card out?" Marina questioned to herself, "Hasn't years of trying and failing taught him anything?"

"You might be underestimating Danny this time, Marina," Violet countered back as she looked at the two of her friends facing off, "He may just get lucky."

But it was pretty apparent that Mike was not up for any surprises of any kind: "This main phase two, I use my Pleiades' effect!" he decided, "By detaching an overlay unit, I can return your Machina Soldier to your hand!"

Danny watched as his mechanical soldier faded away from the field as its card rematerialized in his hand. "Tsk," Danny uttered to himself, "Guess I should've seen that coming."

"I know what you're trying to bring out, Danny," Mike told him from across the pavement, "But I'm afraid I'm not gonna give you the chance to beat me today. Turn end."

"Then it's back to me!" Danny cried out as he drew his next card, and grinned hugely at the sight of what it was.

"Looks like he actually got what he needed for once," Marina reasoned as she looked into her slow-witted friend's expression.

"I'm gonna start by re-summoning my Machina Soldier!" Danny began, the energy in his tone beginning to rise in intensity.

 **[Machina Soldier – LV: 4/ATK: 1600]**

"And accompanying him this time 'round will be my Machina Defender!" Danny continued with unfading enthusiasm.

 **[Machina Defender – LV: 4/DEF: 1800]**

"And next, I'll use my two Call Of The Haunted trap cards to revive the two monsters I have in my graveyard!" Danny cried as his two traps flipped, "So let's welcome back my Machina Sniper, and my Commander Covington!"

 **[Machina Sniper – LV: 4/ATK: 1800]**

 **[Commander Covington – LV: 4/ATK: 1000]**

Mike's eyes narrowed. "So you're actually going to manage to get _it_ out this time..." he spoke, impressed at how his best friend had actually upped his game.

"Now my Commander Covington is giving the order to have my Machina Soldier, Machina Defender, and Machina Sniper join forces!" Danny cried as his three named monsters seemed to fall apart amongst themselves; however it seemed that they were then _reassembling_ themselves into one, GIANT mechanized mayhem of a monster.

Mike looked up at the new creature that had assembled itself to the point it was tall enough to match half of the school building's height. Marina and Violet, having not ever seen this creature actually summoned before themselves, backed away so that they weren't directly in the shadow of the giant menace, as it felt like it could crash down upon them any moment.

"Now bear witness as my ultimate monster finally takes form!" Danny exclaimed as he proudly watched his monster take form, his face flushed with an expression that clearly showed he had never been happier with himself until this very moment; "I summon Machina Force!"

 **[Machina Force – LV: 10/ATK: 4600]**

"Unbelievable..." Marina uttered under her breath as she marveled at the sight of Danny's ace in the hole.

Violet had heard Marina's impressed tone, but she didn't feel the need to draw attention to it. Instead, she now took her eyes off of the gigantic creature to look at Mike, who was eyeing the creature carefully, as if he was trying to take it apart mentally in his mind to figure out where its off button was.

 _'You're not gonna let that thing stay on the field for too long, are you...?'_ Violet asked Mike silently as she looked to him, wondering just what Mike had going through his head in this very moment.

"Now by giving up 1000 LP," Danny now explained, "My Machina Force is allowed to attack! So go and pummel that Pleiades into the pavement!"

 **[Danny – LP: 6300]**

Machina Force brought its huge fist down upon Mike's Pleiades, flattening it outright and destroying it. The shockwaves of the attack made Violet and Marina flinch to shield themselves, while Mike stepped back a few paces as the mechanical fist came down and then rose up again right in front of him.

 **[Mike – LP: 5900]**

"And you know what else?" Danny cried out, a fire in his eyes he hadn't had since the days before Mike had left, "I still have two attacks left! One from my Recycler and one from my Covington! So now I'll have them attack too!"

Scrap Recycler moves swiftly on its small wheels and had its metal-chomping mouth chomp down on Mike's arm, while Commander Covington charged with arms out straight through Mike. The direct contact from these attacks almost made him lose his footing, but he managed to keep himself grounded as the mechanical monsters now moved back to Danny's side of the field.

 **[Mike – LP: 5000]**

 **[Mike – LP: 4000]**

Mike readjusted himself as Danny finally finished, "And I think that'll do to finish my turn!"

As Mike now stood tall again, he found himself smiling—even _laughing_ —which left Violet, Marina, and especially Danny confused. After seeing how he'd been in the duel against Josiah, seeing Mike actually looking happy during a duel came as a bit of a surprise to them.

"Whatcha laughing about over there?" Danny called out to his best friend, wondering just what could be going through his mind.

Mike managed to regain control over himself as he then replied, "Y'know, it's funny... funny how two years can make you forget the definition of 'fun'...

"But I think I'm starting to remember it now," Mike spoke honestly as he glanced towards Violet and Marina on the sidelines, "So thanks for the reminder, guys."

Though everyone was touched by these words, no one was more so than Violet. Though she, Danny and Marina had no idea what had happened to Mike while he was away, but it seemed that he hadn't completely changed as they had all feared.

 _'He really_ is _the same boy I fell in love with 14 years ago...'_ Violet realized as she smiled the biggest smile she'd ever had in a long time.

Mike now brought his attention back to the duel as he drew his next card, and looked for a good move to follow up against Danny's last strike. ' _Alright, I was lenient not using Pleiades's effect to get that giant bucket of bolts off the field,'_ Mike silently figured as he scanned his hand, _'So let's see if I can make up for that by taking it down NOW...'_

"I summon Constellar Sombre!" Mike began his move.

 **[Constellar Sombre – LV: 4/ATK: 1550]**

"And this guy is my ace in the hole!" Mike explained as he now took his Pleiades from his graveyard, "With his effect, by banishing any Constellar monster in my graveyard, I can then bring back to my hand any other Constellar monster in the graveyard I choose! So now my Constellar Pollux can come on back!"

As Mike added his Pollux to his hand, Danny could almost see the plan that was forming in Mike's head. He almost hoped that Mike might find a way to take out his Machina Force, just to give him a challenge.

 _'Even if you DO find a way to take down my Force...'_ Danny reasoned in his head, _'I already have a plan in place that will let me rebound just as fast._

 _'So take your best shot at me, Mike...'_ Danny challenged in his mind, _'I wanna see you at your very best!'_

"Now I'm gonna start having a little fun of my own!" Mike continued, "By using my Sombre's first effect, I've now unlocked a hidden power that allows me to normal summon _another_ Constellar monster this turn! So let's welcome back Constellar Pollux!"

 **[Constellar Pollux – LV: 4/ATK: 1700]**

"And now I'll overlay Sombre and Pollux to Xyz summon another creature that you're already acquainted with!" Mike cried out, "I Xyz summon Starliege Paladynamo!"

 **[Starliege Paladynamo – RK: 4/ATK: 2000]**

Danny smiled at the old monster of Mike's as Marina's and Violet's eyes widened. "So, your old ace monster finally gets to go against my true ace monster..." the former mused with a wide smile, "Who knew it'd take this many years for it to happen?"

Mike smiled as he gave a small chuckle. "I thought it only appropriate to take down your boss monster with my own," he told him, "Now, I use Starliege Paladynamo's effect!

"By detaching both of his overlay units," Mike explained as he pointed at Machina Force, "Your oversized scrap yard loses all of its abilities and ATK points!"

 **[Machina Force – ATK: 0]**

"Now, Starliege..." Mike commanded his old friend, "Attack Machina Force!"

Paladynamo took up his large spatial blade and charged forward, stabbing right into Machina Force's core as it passed right through it, causing a small explosion that triggered the giant's deconstruction.

Violet and Marina all watched with dropped jaws as Machina Force tumbled down as a scrap heap directly on top of Danny, who cried out in panic as he flinched while his monster came down upon him.

 **[Danny – LP: 4300]**

The Machina Force's image finally faded, revealing Danny as he got himself back to his feet. "Oh, I am SO glad these monsters aren't real..." he managed to mutter as he finally regained his balance, "Pretty sure I'd have been a pancake there otherwise..."

Marina let out a quick gasp of a laugh at this remark, but then stifled it just as quickly. Violet turned to look at her with a slight grin on her face, while Marina shot back a quick glare, as if saying, _'You didn't hear ANYTHING.'_

Back in the duel field, Mike gave a small "Hmph," before finally stating, "Well, pancake or no pancake, your ace monster's life was unfortunately short-lived."

"Maybe so..." Danny retorted as he managed to regain his footing completely, "But you forgot one very important detail..."

Mike's eyebrows rose as he then realized what Danny meant as his Machina Armored Unit spell card began to glow, signaling its effect was now activating yet again.

"Since you just destroyed a monster with 4600 ATK, I can now summon out any machine with the same attribute and ATK less than that!" Danny cried as his new Machina burst from the ground before him, "So let's give a warm welcome to my Machina Fortress!"

 **[Machina Fortress – LV: 7/ATK: 2500]**

Marina went wide-eyed at this surprise move by Danny. "Well, well..." she muttered, impressed yet again, "Danny actually had a comeback for if his ace monster came tumbling down. He really _has_ come a long way."

Violet now looked to Marina with a playful expression. "Am I detecting a sense of glorification from you towards him?" she teased.

"Shut up!" Marina shot back at her as her face flushed red, to which Violet responded by playfully sticking her tongue out at her.

Mike now eyed Danny's Machina Fortress carefully. He could admit that he hadn't expected Danny to comeback so strongly, so it was his fault for underestimated his best friend this time.

"I set three cards face down..." Mike concluded cautiously, "And that's all for now."

"Then I'm up!" Danny cried as he drew, his smile still beaming as he looked at the two cards he had left in his hand.

But upon inspection, his expression immediately let everyone else know that he was perfectly confident in what he was doing as he now looked to Mike, saying "Pretty soon you're gonna be telling us just what you've been up to these last few years!" he reminded Mike, "And don't think you're not gonna tell me, 'cause I plan on winning this duel!"

Mike remained unmoving and still, only staring back into Danny's eyes intensely.

It was in this moment that Violet took notice of a habit of Mike's: just mentioning whatever he'd been doing or where he'd been the last two years seemed to make him go silent, and even become a little colder in terms of his tone and personality. That was how he had been when he had first gotten back, and that's how he'd gotten the first time Danny asked about the last two years.

 _'Maybe trying to force an explanation out of him through this duel wasn't such a good idea...'_ Violet reasoned in her mind, worried that perhaps this was possibly something that would only push Mike away from them...

"I'll start by putting my Solidarity continuous spell into play!" Danny cried, "As long as I've only got one type of monster in my grave, all the other monsters on my field with the same type will gain 800 ATK!"

 **[Machina Fortress – ATK: 3300]**

 **[Scrap Recycler – ATK: 1700]**

 **[Commander Covington – ATK: 1800]**

"No way..." Violet said with widened eyes, causing Marina to turn to her with curiosity, "With that much firepower on his side now, if all of those monsters attack... then Mike could lose..."

Marina's eyes were now wide too as she realized her best friend was right. "So does that mean..." she spoke as she turned her attention back to the duel, "That Danny's finally going to _beat_ Mike...?"

Meanwhile, Danny was now waging battle: "Now it's time to get Machina Force's revenge, Fortress!" he declared as he indicated Mike's warrior to his tank, "Attack and destroy Starliege Paladynamo!"

The large, tank-like creature began rolling speedily towards Mike's warrior, despite its ginormous size. Violet and Marina held their breaths, waiting to see if this really was about to be the end for Mike.

But Mike wasn't ready to go down yet: "I reveal my Twister quick-play spell!" he countered as the set card on his field flipped, "By giving up 500 LP, it can destroy one face-up spell or trap card on the field! So say goodbye to your Solidarity continuous spell!"

 **[Mike – LP: 3500]**

A huge gust of wind suddenly picked up within the duel field, forming a small twister that immediately shot itself at Danny's face-up card, sweeping it away from the field.

"And with that gone," Mike said confidently while Danny gritted his teeth, "Your monsters' ATK values all revert to their original states!"

 **[Machina Fortress – ATK: 2500]**

 **[Scrap Recycler – ATK: 900]**

 **[Commander Covington – ATK: 1000]**

Danny could only growl in frustration before bellowing out, "It doesn't matter! I'm still gonna destroy Paladynamo with my Fortress!"

The big, blue tank continued on its way towards Mike's space-themed warrior, slamming itself roughly into him before he shattered. Mike braced himself from the force of the impact, surprised that it created as much of a shockwave as it had.

 **[Mike – LP: 3000]**

"And I'm not done yet!" Danny reminded Mike, "I still have my Recycler and my Covington to attack you with!"

Danny's two smaller monsters assaulted Mike once again, passing through him as they drained his LP even further.

 **[Mike – LP: 2000]**

 **[Mike – LP: 1100]**

Violet's and Marina's faces were stricken by what they had just seen. For a small portion of his LP, Mike had managed to keep himself from losing _all_ of his LP in this turn. And not only that, but he'd actually _let_ himself get hit with that much damage anyway even when he had two set cards. To them, it would've made more logical sense for Mike to have used something that prevented such an onslaught.

But Mike still let his face down cards lay as they were as he said, "Not a bad move, but you forgot about my Paladynamo's effect—when he's destroyed, I draw another card!"

As Mike drew his card, Danny scoffed slightly. "I still don't know how you expect to beat me, I gotta be honest..." he told his best friend, "I mean, look at what I've got compared to what you've got now!"

"Except," Mike countered with a grin, "You didn't notice who was at the real disadvantage, did you?"

One of Danny's eyebrows rose in confusion as Mike explained: "I currently have two cards in my hand and will be drawing my third next turn, giving me a variety of options. You, on the other hand, only have a giant tank and a few other small monsters on your field, and one card left in your hand. _And_ you're about to end your turn."

"So tell me..." Mike now gave his friend a quizzical look, "Who do you think is _really_ screwed here?"

Danny felt himself go pale as those words sank into him. The fact of the matter was, Mike was right: he had never even considered how much of an advantage Mike had over him.

 _'So that's why Mike didn't try to prevent his Paladynamo's destruction,'_ Danny silently realized, _'He WANTED him destroyed so he could get the extra draw, so he could prepare for a strong counterattack afterwards. And if that's the case...'_

Danny's eyes narrowed as it now hit him: _'He's planning on trying to finish the duel next turn...'_

This same thoughts were now running through Violet's and Marina's minds as well. It usually _was_ at times like this when Mike went for the win: when his opponent's defenses were cut short and he was at a better hand advantage.

But Danny wasn't about to go down without a fight. _'If he wants to try and destroy my Fortress, he can go right ahead...'_ he mused in his mind, _'I'm ready for whatever he's got!'_

"I'll set one card face down," he wrapped up, "And that ought to do it."

Mike drew once more, and looked at the three cards he now held in his hand. From the look on his face, Danny could tell that Mike was ready to call this duel over. He would have to hope that his face down card was the key to disabling any plan Mike wanted to set into motion.

"I'll start by summoning Constellar Algiedi!" Mike began.

 **[Constellar Algiedi – LV: 4/ATK: 1600]**

"And thanks to his effect," Mike continued, "I can special summon another LV 4 Constellar monster from my hand! And I choose my Constellar Kaus!"

 **[Constellar Kaus – LV: 4/ATK: 1800]**

"But I won't be needing my Kaus's ability to raise any of my monsters' LVs," Mike explained, bringing a mildly surprised look to Danny's face, "Instead, I'm going to overlay my two LV 4 monsters just as they are!

"And by building the overlay network," Mike cried out, "I Xyz summon Constellar Praesepe!"

 **[Constellar Praesepe – RK: 4/ATK: 2400]**

"And now my Star Chart activates," Mike explained, "Letting me draw one more time!"

Danny immediately formulated what he thought was Mike's plan in his head as Mike drew: "I get it now..." he reasoned as he observed Mike's bulky warrior, "You're hoping to get past my Fortress's 2500 ATK by boosting up your Praesepe's ATK to 3400 with its effect, right?"

"Actually, you skipped a step!" Mike explained as he took another card from his hand, "Recognize this card, Danny?"

As it materialized on the field, Danny's, Marina's, and Violet's eyes widened the most they had done yet that day as Mike cried out, "You should, 'cause it's one of my old favorites: Riryoku! And with it, I'll be taking half of your Fortress's ATK to add to my Praesepe's strength!"

 **[Machina Fortress – ATK: 1250]**

 **[Constellar Praesepe – ATK: 3650]**

Danny clenched his jaw now as Mike finally cried out, "Now, Constellar Praesepe! Wipe out Machina Fortress!"

Praesepe raised his fists as he dashed towards Machina Fortress, ready to deliver the blow that would destroy it.

Danny, however, wasn't about to go down without a real fight: "I flip the quick-play spell, Limiter Removal!" he cried out, "Meaning I can double my Fortress's ATK to the strength it was at before!"

"I'm afraid that's not gonna happen!" Mike cried as he now flipped one of his set cards, "I flip my own quick-play spell, Forbidden Lance!"

This took Danny, Marina, and Violet by surprise. "What does that do?" Danny demanded to know.

"Glad you asked," Mike replied as now Praesepe and Fortress collided, each trying to gain dominance over the other, "Any monster I choose not only loses 800 ATK, but it also can't be affected by other spells and traps from this point forward!

"And since I chained it to your Limiter Removal," Mike reasoned with a smirk, "Your monster's ATK won't be doubling on me after all!"

 **[Machina Fortress – ATK: 1250]**

 **[Machina Fortress – ATK: 450]**

Danny's eyes narrowed—he hadn't anticipated Mike having one last trick like this up his sleeve. Despite all of his best efforts, Danny had once again come up short against his best friend.

"Now I'll activate my Praesepe's ability!" Mike continued, "By detaching one overlay unit, he gains 1000 more ATK during the damage step!"

 **[Constellar Praesepe – ATK: 4650]**

Everyone's eyes were now glued to the battle between Praesepe and Fortress as their ATK values were finally decided for the battle, but only Danny had one more thing to add to it all: "There's still my Machina Fortress's special ability!" he cried out, "When it's destroyed in battle, it destroys any other card on your field that I choose! So if my Machina Fortress is gonna go down, he's taking your Praesepe with him!"

That officially brought the battle between Mike's bulky warrior and Danny's mechanized tank to the ultimate climax as they forced themselves into each other, resulting in an explosion that destroyed both of them and sending shockwaves in every direction. Danny and Mike braced themselves against the force of the attack as Marina and Violet shielded their eyes from the light of the explosion.

 **[Danny – LP: 100]**

By the time the winds had died down and the light had faded, Marina and Violet opened their eyes to see both duelists facing each other, panting slightly from the intensity of the battle that had just ensued.

"I gotta say..." Danny said between breaths, "I didn't see that coming... you really _have_ gotten a lot stronger, Mike..."

Mike grinned slightly at this remark. "You as well, Danny..." he complimented his best friend honestly, "You've definitely proved to me how much of a better duelist you've become."

"Yeah..." Danny breathed shakily, "Well, don't count me out of this duel yet, 'cause I still have Machina Armored Unit on my field! And with it, I can special summon Green Gadget to my field to join my Recycler and my Covington, only in DEF mode!"

 **[Green Gadget – LV: 4/DEF: 600]**

"And with its effect, I can add Red Gadget from my deck to my hand!" Danny continued as he took the card from his deck, "Then, during my next turn, I'll show you something from my deck that you haven't seen before!"

Mike only smiled slyly as he replied, "I'm afraid that's not gonna happen, Danny."

Danny's eyebrows rose at this. "What do you mean?" he shot back, hoping Mike wasn't talking about what he thought he was.

"Because the duel's already over," Mike spoke coolly.

Danny, Marina, and Violet each thought that their hearts had stopped as Mike explained, "See, I knew that Machina Fortress had the effect to destroy any card on the field; and I'd predicted that you'd destroy my Praesepe out of sport.

"But if you'd destroyed _this_..." Mike explained as he flipped over his final set card, "You probably would've won."

Danny could only stare in awe at Mike's Xyz Reborn trap card before bowing his head as he slightly laughed to himself. "I should've known..." he muttered, "You really DID have it all thought out..."

"Of course I did," Mike replied as he raised his hand to indicate the beam of light that would rebirth his chosen monster, "So now, my Constellar Praesepe rises once again, while my trap becomes an overlay unit for him!"

 **[Constellar Praesepe – RK: 4/ATK: 2400]**

Danny could only watch with wide eyes as Mike spoke: "Now use that overlay unit, give yourself 1000 more ATK, and strike down Commander Covington, Praesepe!"

 **[Constellar Praesepe – ATK: 3400]**

Praesepe thrusted its arm into Covington, who gave a frightened cry before exploding as Danny fell to his knees as the last of his LP gave out.

 **[Danny – LP: 0]**

 **[Winner: Mike]**

Marina brought her hands to her mouth to conceal her ultimately surprised expression. Violet thought she caught a glimpse of what appeared to be pity for Danny in Marina's eyes, but she decided not to rib her on it; she'd made both her and Danny blush enough for one day, and she was also taking in the finish of this duel just as much as Marina was.

As the duel disks deactivated and Praesepe disappeared, Mike began walking towards his grounded best friend, who muttered to himself with a smirk, "Man... I spent these last two years trying to get as strong as you are... and I _still_ couldn't beat you..."

"Well, I wouldn't put it past you that you could," Mike said as he looked down at Danny, "You came pretty close."

Violet and Marina approached them as Mike helped Danny back onto his feet. "I guess this means you won't be telling us about your last couple of years, huh...?" Danny figured.

Mike scoffed at that. "You weren't getting that story anyway," was his retort.

"OH, OKAY!" Danny shot back in an exaggerated rage, "I SEE HOW IT IS!"

That earned laughter from everyone else as Danny stood there steaming, but he quickly simmered down.

"I gotta say, though; that was definitely the most amazing duel you two have fought," Marina admitted as she pulled herself together, "But you still need some work, Danny."

Danny could only rub the back of his head with a sheepish smile at that remark. "Hey, at least give me _some_ credit for finally getting Machina Force out!" he shot back, but Marina just shook her head.

Danny shrugged Marina's cold-shouldered remark off as Violet smiled at Mike, who caught her eye and returned the smile as well. She had a feeling that the two of them had the same exact thought: things were finally beginning to return to normal.

Danny now brought his arms up over his head to stretch as he said, "Well, at least we still have a whole afternoon left to hang out..."

He suddenly looked to Mike as a sly grin spread across his face. "Race ya to the trailer?" he challenged Mike as his arms came down.

Mike could only smile in response as he shot back, "You'll lose that, too."

And without another word, the two best friends made a mad dash down the sidewalk, neck-in-neck with each other as they ran towards the other side of the city.

Marina shook her head at the two of them as she stood alongside Violet. "Boys..." she muttered, sounding both annoyed and amused before they began following them.

* * *

 **Next Time**

 **Chapter 4: "Ties"**

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

 ** _*UPDATE*_** _Big thanks to reader/reviewer, Sunflesh, for pointing out a vital duel error in this chapter. The duel has since been fixed and republished._

* * *

 ** _\- Last Revised: May 2, 2017 -_**


	4. Ties

**Yu-Gi-Oh! Mark of Death**

 **Chapter 4: "Ties"**

 **Opening Theme: "Raining" by Art Of Dying**

 **Ending Theme: "Behind Blue Eyes" by Limp Bizkit**

* * *

The four friends arrived at the trailer within the 4 PM hour, which gave them plenty of time to hang out and talk for the rest of the afternoon.

As they all talked and reminisced, Violet found herself unable to keep her eyes from darting to look at Mike. The duel he and Danny had wrapped up hours ago had just proven to her that Mike really was the same person that she'd fallen for fourteen years ago, and she felt ashamed to have ever thought otherwise like she had before.

Though she thought she was doing a good job at keeping her glances at Mike secretive, little did she know that Mike had immediately taken notice of them out of the corner of his eye. And also unbeknownst to her was the fact that Mike still felt the same way for her as she did for him—he was just better at concealing his feelings than she was.

After a few hours, as Danny and Marina argued about what was more important—studying for your dream life or practicing academics—Mike glanced at his watch to check the time.

"Five-fifty, guys," he interrupted their argument, gaining both of their attentions as they now checked their own devices.

Danny let out a low whistle as he shoved his phone back in his back pocket while saying, "Good save there, Mike! I'm heading out!"

And as always, he took a leaping bound out the door of the trailer as he cried out, "Later, guys!" before dashing for home on his skateboard.

Marina now stood up as well, stretching her arms as she shot Violet a look, as if saying _'I can't believe THAT is the guy that I like,'_ before saying to her two friends, "Well, I guess we should all be taking off then. See you tomorrow."

Mike and Violet bid her their goodbyes before Marina stepped out of the trailer as well, leaving the two alone on the couch.

Mike now stood to follow suit as Violet's mind raced. This was a _perfect_ opportunity to discuss her feelings with him, while they were alone and he was right in front of her. She wanted to take the chance—to be honest about her affection for him and make her love known.

But the same things held back her words: the chance that he didn't care for her in the same way, and the possibility that maybe he'd met someone else while he was away.

It was times like these where she hated being so emotionally fragile. It made it so difficult for her to come clean about how she really felt to anyone since she was always afraid of being hurt.

"Hey, you coming?"

She snapped out of her thoughts at Mike's voice, and looked to see he was looking to her as he stood in the trailer's doorway.

"Um..." she managed to mutter out as she composed herself, "Yeah, it's just that..."

Mike now watched her inquisitively as she took a breath, unsure of what she was going to say afterwards before blurting out, "Would you mind walking home with me?"

Violet nearly clasped her hands onto her mouth after she said that, but resisted. She didn't know where it had come from, and it certainly wasn't along the lines of what she _really_ wanted to say to him. And if he didn't care for her like that back, then this might've been asking too much.

But whatever divine power was in charge of luck had to have been smiling down on Violet, as Mike only gave a small chuckle before replying with, "Yeah, of course."

Violet thanked whatever divine being was watching over her as she stood up, and Mike kept the door open for her as she stepped out from the trailer into the construction yard. Mike followed suit, but as he did found himself surprised when the ring of his cell phone came from within his duster.

Violet stopped to look at Mike, who held up a finger to give her the signal that he needed a second as he pulled his phone from his duster's inside pocket. He unlocked his screen to look at the text he had just received:

 ** _Dr. Crawford:_** **sorry to bother you, but i need you to come by my office at 8 tonight. its important.**

Mike could tell that this was definitely an unavoidable matter given that Dr. Crawford had emphasized the urgency of his presence. He immediately replied back:

 ** _Mike:_** **ill be there, dont worry.**

Now he replaced his phone in his pocket as he looked back to Violet, who looked at him with a curious face. "Got somewhere I have to be later tonight," he explained to her, "Nothing bad."

"At this hour?" she questioned as she now began walking alongside Mike.

"Yeah," Mike replied as they crawled underneath the fence and started walking into the city, "Only two days back in town and I'm already a busy man."

Violet couldn't help but giggle at this remark as she felt her smile plaster itself to her face. She'd never felt this genuinely happy in a long time.

* * *

The two spent their walk through the city in silence as the sun set behind the large towers in the city. They were each silent for different reasons: Violet was afraid of saying practically anything to Mike, given the fact that she didn't want to say anything that might possibly push him away.

Little did she know that Mike had a similar conflict going on inside his own mind, but his reasons were far different—particularly since they revolved around how he felt about himself. The events of the last two years still weighed way too heavily on his heart, and he was afraid that, if Violet ever saw who—much less _what_ —he'd become during that time, it would push _her_ away. And he didn't want to take that chance.

Eventually, they were each able to push their worries aside when they finally arrived at Violet's place, however Mike was surprised to see where they had ended up:

"One of the old apartment buildings...?" he questioned with raised eyebrows, looking up at the worn-out, brick building before them, "What happened to your dad's deli?"

He looked to her for an answer, but she couldn't bring herself to meet Mike's eyes. When she looked up at him to find that hadn't let up with his inquiring stare, she let out a sigh before looking to the building as she explained: "There was a vermin infestation... got so bad that it ran him out of business..."

A shock went through Mike. Violet's father, Bulbous Alyssum, didn't seem like the kind of guy who would let his business be overrun by mice and rats. His shop had always been the most popular sandwich shop in the city. And though he was the kindest man there was, he had the toughness needed to fight through anything no matter what the situation.

"I can only imagine how hard that must've hit him..." Mike figured as he observed the old apartment.

Violet could only nod as she started, "Believe me, you don't wanna know—"

She was interrupted by the sound of her own cell phone ringing, taking her by surprise. She took her phone from her pocket to see who was calling, and Mike could tell from the look on her face that it wasn't someone she was very fond of hearing from. She shot him an apologetic look, to which he nodded his understanding as she now turned away and answered in a low voice:

"Hey Dad, listen; I'm—

"... yes, I know I'm a little late, but—

"... Dad, I—!"

Mike was surprised to hear that this was Bulbous Alyssum on the phone with Violet. He couldn't make out his words, but it was definitely his voice that he was overhearing—only with a tone that was beyond infuriated.

That particularly threw Mike off. He had never known Bulbous to have any kind of temper. Clearly more things had changed far more than he'd expected over the last two years.

"... Dad, I'm standing right outside—!

"... I'm sorry, alright?!"

It pained Mike to listen to the voice of the girl he loved become distressed. It was bad enough that Bulbous seemed shorter-tempered than before, but now he could distinguish a trait in Bulbous's dialect that he hadn't noticed before: slurred speech.

Mike specifically remembered that, back in the day, Bulbous loathed and detested alcohol more than probably anything else. The idea of him drunkenly shouting at Violet from the other end of the phone was an image in his mind that he couldn't find it in himself to fathom.

"... Dad, I'll be inside in a minute—!"

Whatever Bulbous had interrupted her with next left Violet wide-eyed as she froze, petrified and tense. Mike could barely make out from Bulbous's screaming voice what he had said, but the look on Violet's face told him that he'd heard right.

"Dad..." Violet was now choking up, "That's completely unfair...!"

Mike heard Bulbous shout something short, before a click sounded from the receiver as Violet took her phone from her ear, now turning to Mike with tears welling in her eyes.

Mike shook his head, signaling for her not to say a word as he approached her. But he barely needed to take a step before she threw herself into his arms as she completely broke down, bawling into his chest.

Mike held her close and let her get it all out. He guided her to the steps that led in and out of the apartment building so she could sit as she cried into his shoulder. She didn't seem to mind just dropping her school bag and binders to the side, even though they exposed the scribbles of his name that she'd written on them. But Mike kept his attention on her, hoping that she might begin to understand how he really felt for her.

A few minutes passed before Violet finally managed to pull herself together, and lifted her head from Mike's shoulder as he pulled from his duster a handkerchief and handed it to her. She took it gratefully as she wiped away her tears.

"Thanks..." was all she managed to say to him as she handed back the cloth, now scrambling to pick up her folders and her bag, realizing that her scribbles had been visible.

"Don't mention it," Mike replied simply as he replaced the cloth in his pocket, and Violet stood to face him. He didn't know if it was intentional, but the look in her stormy-gray eyes was nothing but pure affection for him as she stared into his ocean-blue eyes.

"I guess I'll see you around," she said, though her expression seemed to suggest otherwise, for some reason.

Mike didn't question it, but instead just began to reply, "Yeah, I guess—"

He was cut off when Violet made the move that completely took him by surprise: she leaned towards his face and kissed him on the cheek, before darting like a bullet up the stairs that led inside the apartment, and disappeared within its lobby.

Mike stood there, paralyzed in surprise as he took in what had just happened. The girl he loved—that he also knew for sure loved him—had just kissed him on the cheek. He almost couldn't believe it; he even raised his hand to the spot he'd felt her lips meet his face as if to try and tell if it had happened or not, but his memory didn't lie.

But he didn't have time to linger on what had just happened: a little over an hour had passed, meaning he had little under an hour to get back to Dexterity High and meet with Dr. Crawford for whatever it was he wanted to talk about so urgently.

Mike's coat flailed behind him as he spun and started walking back the other way, not wanting to let his former therapist and principal down.

* * *

It was a little past 8 PM when Mike finally made it back to Dexterity High in the center of the city. He hoped Dr. Crawford would be able to forgive him for his tardiness; the situation with Violet earlier had not been part of his time schedule.

Inside the school, he knew the elevator was locked down during the nightly hours, meaning he had to climb the four floors' worth of stairs to the top floor. He found it funny to think that, two years beforehand, he would have been out of breath by the time he reached the fourth floor from the first, but this time around he didn't even break a sweat.

He made his way down the hallway towards Dr. Crawford's office, where he could see a faint light coming from the crack in the slightly open door. Just before he knocked to request entry, he was surprised to hear a man's voice other than Dr. Crawford's from inside:

"You know I don't like being kept waiting, Skeldon."

"I know, yes..." came Dr. Crawford's voice in response, though his tone seemed fearful of the other man in the room with him, "I told him what time to arrive—"

"No excuses," the other voice interrupted irritably, "You told me this young man had plenty of potential."

"I assure you, that's the truth—"

Mike decided to break up the squabble by knocking, cutting Dr. Crawford off as a steady silence took over for a moment.

It only lasted for a moment or two before it was broken by Dr. Crawford, who had taken what sounded like a nervous gulp before saying, "Come in."

Mike entered into the office to find it just as it was the day before, with Dr. Crawford sitting in his chair behind his desk. The only difference was the presence of another man on the other side of the desk in one of the two guest chairs.

This man had short, neat brown hair that matched his stern, hazel eyes. The entirety of his facial expression bore the same sternness, and Mike realized why Dr. Crawford had to have been sounding slightly frightened before.

The man's attire was that of a brown sport coat over a normal black shirt, and dark-tan pants donned his legs. His polished black shoes seemed shinier than they probably looked in the daylight, as the lights above their heads contrasted with the darkness of the night outside. He would've stood at 6'2" at full height.

"Ah, Mr. Harper..." Dr. Crawford breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm glad you could make it—"

"Nearly ten minutes late," the other man interjected, eyeing Mike with what looked like a mild annoyance, "Don't you know the expression 'early is on time,' boy?"

Mike stared calmly back into the eyes of the stern, seated man. Dr. Crawford looked like he was on the edge of his seat as he adjusted his glasses while speaking, "I assume you haven't met Mr. Copperson before, Mike?"

Mike's eyes widened as he looked to Dr. Crawford and then back to who he had now just been introduced to as he extended his arm to shake Mike's hand.

Andrew Copperson had been the mayor of County Dame since Mike had entered middle school. His term had never ended since he had always done such a pristine job at running the city, and the people had always chosen him over any other candidate who tried to run for the position. And the fact that Dr. Crawford was able to address him as just "Mister" Copperson could only have meant that the two had to be close in some regard, so Mike figured it would be wise to put his best foot forward.

"I sincerely apologize for my lateness," Mike spoke with earnest as he took Mr. Copperson's hand with a firm grasp, "I'm afraid there were complications that I ran into on my way here that couldn't be avoided."

As their hands parted, Mr. Copperson eyed Mike carefully as the latter took a seat in the chair opposite the Mayor. "You couldn't choose more appropriate attire for a meeting like this?" Mr. Copperson said, as if trying to taunt Mike.

"Well, I've only been back for two days, now," Mike spoke honestly as he got himself comfortable, "I really haven't gotten a chance to expand my wardrobe beyond this."

He closed that last statement as he looked down upon his black duster, and Mr. Copperson almost looked like he was amused by this response. "Fair enough..." he said, "By your lack of preparation for this meeting, I'm going to assume you don't know why you were summoned you here."

He shot Dr. Crawford a steely look, clearly expressing his disappointment in his colleague for not informing Mike better. Dexterity High's principal seemed to shrink in his seat as he rested his head on his intertwined fingers.

Now Mr. Copperson looked back to Mike as he explained, "I was told that you had requested to take private courses away from your peers to complete your high school education. That's quite the ambitious request."

"So much so that it's unrealistic?" Mike inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Not necessarily," County Dame's Mayor assured, "But you see, a request like that still needs to be agreed upon by the city's school board; and that's where I come in."

Mike remained silent as his gaze now locked onto Mr. Copperson's, who continued: "We can't just give such a customized education to a young man who'd disappeared for so long a time for no adequately explained reason. So I just have a few questions I'd like to ask you about your activities over the last two years. It's a board member thing, you understand."

Mike's eyes narrowed. "Fine by me," he spoke, though his mind did not agree with that statement in the slightest, "I have nothing to hide."

"The first question, then..." Mr. Copperson began as he now crossed his legs comfortably, "Where were you for the last two years?"

There was a silence in the room for only a moment filled with intensity. Dr. Crawford could tell by the look in his old patient's eyes that this was definitely something he would rather not talk about, but was surprised when Mike finally answered:

"Ever heard of a place called Frontier Haven?"

Both Dr. Crawford's and Mr. Copperson's eyes widened slightly at this response. "Frontier Haven..." Mr. Copperson repeated, scoffing slightly as he did so, "Yes, I've heard the rumors about it. An old western town that's plagued with constant conflict with another old town."

"That's the one," Mike confirmed.

It was Mr. Copperson's turn to narrow his eyes now. "Where in Frontier Haven did you stay?" he inquired.

"With a friend," Mike replied simply.

"What friend?"

"He's since passed on, sir."

Dr. Crawford's face turned grim while Mr. Copperson leaned back in his chair, tensing up as he took in the information while looking into Mike's eyes. He could normally tell if someone was able to lie and look honest about it, but this time was different: Mike's eyes held no real emotion or truth, yet at the same time something in them convinced him that his words were true, as if they were incapable of telling any kind of lie because of some traumatic experience.

"Have you ever killed anyone?"

Mike hesitated as he averted his eyes at this question. Dr. Crawford and Mr. Copperson could immediately tell that this question had triggered some kind of nerve within Mike. Clearly whatever he had gone through in Frontier Haven had left more of a mark on him than anyone else could have thought.

"Yes."

Dr. Crawford's eyes widened as he turned his head in alarm to Mr. Copperson, unable to believe what his old patient and student had just admitted to him. If he knew Mr. Copperson as well as anyone else did, then he knew that an answer like that would result in Mike getting locked up in prison for who-knew-how-long.

But he was ultimately surprised when he heard Mr. Copperson's response escape through his lips: a small chuckle.

"Good answer," he replied with a grin, "That was a trick question to see if you were a liar. If the rumors about that place bear any truth, then I imagine that you likely ended up caught in the middle of the battles waged out there."

"Actually, there aren't any more battles happening out there now," Mike corrected the Mayor, causing the latter's eyebrows to rise.

"Is that so?" he inquired with interest, "And how is it that came to be?"

"Well, I _could_ tell you, but then we'd have to sit here for another hour, and I'm sure you're a very busy man," Mike explained, though his voice gave both Mr. Copperson and Dr. Crawford the impression that Mike actually didn't _want_ to elaborate any further on his time away. But there was still enough honesty in his voice to convince them that he meant what he said about needing to take a while to explain everything that had happened.

So instead, Mr. Copperson shifted in his seat as he said, "Well, let me assure you that I won't be reporting this to any authorities. That town is one of the few lawless areas left in this country; beyond the jurisdiction of our type of law enforcement. So if you're ever inquired about it, you best say that it was purely out of self-defense."

"I understand," Mike confirmed, "And I appreciate that. Thank you."

Mr. Copperson only nodded before glancing back at his clipboard again. "Now, you said you wished to have a private education separated from your former classmates. We could easily accommodate you with nightly courses here for a GED, but first..."

He pulled out a pad of paper and a pen from the bag as he now looked back to Mike. "I want to hear what it is that you want to do upon completing these classes."

Mike stayed silent for a moment, deciding the best way to word what he was about to say. It was going to sound absurd to both Dr. Crawford and County Dame's mayor, but in Mike's mind it was something he absolutely had to do.

"Well..." he said, "I was actually thinking of trying to enter the Professional Dueling Circuit."

Just as Mike expected, Dr. Crawford and Mr. Copperson let that sink in for a minute before the mayor began laughing, as if he had just heard an 'okay' joke. "The Pro Circuit..." he repeated after catching his breath, "Well, you've set a very high bar for yourself, haven't you?"

"Is it one that's impossible to reach from where I stand?" Mike inquired casually.

He could tell Mr. Copperson could barely take his idea seriously by the way he now cleared his throat, obviously trying to decide in his mind how to respond. "I wouldn't say it's _impossible_..." he admitted, "But it would be difficult for someone of your status to enter into such a prestigious business. Normally, you'd have to be a member of one of the Dueling Legacy families, like the Cyber Style Clan, in order to qualify as worthy to enter."

Mike's eyes narrowed at this. "Any reason why you bring up that Legacy in particular?" he asked with a definite shift in his tone.

Mr. Copperson's eyebrows rose. "As a matter of fact..." he replied, "The _actual_ heir to the Cyber Style Clan recently joined the ranks of the Pro Circuit from here in County Dame; joined about a year and a half ago, actually. He's currently touring across Asia right now."

"I see..." Mike muttered as he processed this.

Mr. Copperson cocked his head as a curious expression adorned his face. "What's your interest?" he questioned.

"Pure curiosity," Mike lied, though the way he spoke and acted through this part of their conversation clearly told Mr. Copperson that something seemed to bother Mike about the Cyber Style's heir. Dr. Crawford hoped that Mike's reluctance to say what was really bothering him wouldn't reflect badly on Mr. Copperson's decision to give him his education.

Luckily, it seemed Mr. Copperson didn't care, as he then jotted down a few notes before moving on to say, "Well, I believe I have all that I came here for, so I best be going."

Mr. Copperson rose from his chair as Mike did, picking up the small business bag at his side as he did so, and placing his papers within it as he spoke, "I'll be meeting with the board of education tomorrow, and I will contact you through Dr. Crawford when we have deliberated."

He held out his hand to Mike—although reluctantly—and Mike took it and shook firmly. "Sounds good to me," was Mike's reply.

Now Mr. Copperson withdrew his hand as he looked to Dr. Crawford. "Good night, Skeldon," he addressed him more politely.

"Good night, Andrew," Dr. Crawford returned before County Dame's mayor shot one steelier look at Mike as he stepped out the door, and disappeared down the hallway.

There was a silence for a moment as Mike stood there and Dr. Crawford relaxed in his chair, the tension leaving his body.

Mike finally managed to break the silence as he sighed, before saying, "Wow... haven't felt that much tension since the last time someone tried to kill me."

Dr. Crawford could only give a chuckle at that remark, which to Mike sounded like he was appreciative of him lightening the mood a bit.

But as Dr. Crawford calmed himself down again, his face became serious as he looked to Mike, who now said, "Thanks for calling me here. And sorry about the lateness."

Dr. Crawford shook his head. "Don't worry about it," he assured him, "With any luck, I think you may have a good chance of getting your nightly classes, at least."

Mike nodded in understanding as his eyes wandered around the room for a moment. "I guess I'll be going, then," Mike figured as he began taking a step out the door.

"Just a moment, actually..." Dr. Crawford spoke, stopping Mike halfway out the door, "There's one thing I wanted to ask you about."

Mike turned to face his old therapist in the doorway as Dr. Crawford spoke, "Your interest in the heir to the Cyber Style... it wasn't just curiosity, was it?"

Mike averted eye contact with Dr. Crawford as he hesitated in his response. If Mike let himself say what he wanted to about what he knew about the heir to the Cyber Style, then it would give away just what kind of endeavors Mike had had to put up with for the last two years. And that was the last thing he wanted anyone knowing.

"We've... _met_."

Mike chose his words carefully as he spoke, though from the tone of his voice Dr. Crawford could tell that Mike had more of a history with this duelist than he led on. But it was also evident that Mike wasn't keen on sharing just what kind of history that entailed.

Instead, Dr. Crawford only nodded to confirm his understanding. "Very well..." he spoke to Mike, "Good night, Mike."

"Good night, sir," Mike returned before stepping into the hallway, leaving Dr. Crawford—and hopefully, the memories that conversation had brought up in him—behind.

* * *

 ** _\- FLASHBACK -_**

Mike fell flat on his back in the sand as the shadow of Aeron's ace creature looming above him disappeared, letting the setting sunlight hit him again as Aeron's steel cable retracted itself from Mike's arm.

 **[Mike - LP: 0]**

 **[Winner: Aeron]**

He was panting hard; he had never fought so hard or struggled so much in a duel in all of his life. He'd always thought that he ran a fairly decent deck, but Aeron's deck had just made it look like a grade-schooler's in comparison. He had never fought someone with this much skill and strength before, and the fact that this man had _that_ much more power than him shook Mike to his core. Now he had no problem believing Aeron when he'd said he'd gone undefeated for the last twenty years.

Aeron now walked his way over to Mike as the latter struggled to sit himself up again, but found himself pushed back down as Aeron stomped his foot down on his chest, knocking the wind out of him as his eyes nearly bulged out of his head.

" _That's_ what you call a duel?" he heard Aeron's emotionless voice talk down to him, "Pathetic."

Mike could barely muster the strength to lift his head and look up to his opponent. Normally, the pride he had in his dueling would've been hurt from such a derogatory insult, but what he saw when he looked up sent his mind into a fit of terrorizing panic: with his leg still firmly planted in Mike's chest, Aeron's right hand was aiming his revolver-shaped duel disk straight at Mike's face.

"I told you that this duel disk wasn't shaped just for its looks," Aeron reminded him, "You've failed the test."

Mike's heart was now beating faster than a computer's ability to process data as he shut his eyes, his body shivering as fear completely overtook him, and he waited for his last few moments of life to reach their end.

But just as Aeron had begun to clench his finger around the trigger of his firearm, Mike heard what sounded like a firm hand grasping a shoulder as a familiar, commanding voice spoke out: "That's enough, Aeron."

Mike opened his eyes to find, to his ultimate relief, that Samael was there, grabbing Aeron by the shoulder as the two men locked eyes with each other.

"There's no need to end this boy's life," Samael told Aeron calmly, "Step off him."

A few more moments passed before Aeron finally went, "Hmph," before removing his foot from Mike's chest, allowing him to take a long gasp of air as he struggled to refill his lungs with oxygen.

Now, as Aeron replaced his revolver in its holster, Samael extended a hand to Mike with what the latter could only identify as a kind of reassuring smile. Gratefully, Mike grasped the hand and allowed himself to be pulled up to his feet again.

"I watched the last half of your duel from afar," Samael revealed as he looked from Mike to Aeron, "And while I was not surprised by the outcome, there was something about you that intrigued me."

Mike raised one eyebrow at this remark as Samael explained to Mike, "You're clearly a strong duelist at heart, but your dueling felt like it was lacking; as though you had no motivation to even try and win."

Confusion scattered across Mike's brain as Aeron eyed Samael carefully, his own expression one of incertitude.

"Tell me," Samael now questioned Mike with an inquisitive stare, "Where you come from... is there something, or _someone_ , that you particularly duel for? Not just for yourself?"

Mike immediately knew the answer to that question. "Well, yeah..." he answered honestly as he looked down to the sand beneath him, "I've always dueled for my friends... always fighting off the jerks at school who've tried to push us around. They've always given me the inspiration to fight my hardest to keep them safe..."

Samael nodded to confirm his understanding of what Mike was saying, before going silent for a moment as he processed these words.

"I see..." he finally spoke up after a time, "You've never fought for _yourself_ , have you?"

Mike shook his head at this.

"Then that's why you lost..." Samael explained, "You can't be fighting like you used to for your friends. Out here, it's every man for himself—you either fight for yourself, or you die. And the way that you're dueling now is only going to get you killed."

Mike's eyes widened at this remark as Samael turned his back to him and Aeron. "You have the next two days left to train. I suggest that you find it in yourself to cut those ties to your old friends. They'll only get in your way from this point forward."

And with that, Samael now began walking back towards the town that was Frontier Haven not even a few yards away. Mike, meanwhile, was bewildered with what he'd just been told to do.

"Cut the ties... that I have with my friends...?!" he shot back at Samael, who now stopped in his tracks as he listened, "That's what you expect me to do?! I could never—!"

"You're never going to see them again."

Samael's words felt like the bullet that almost went through Mike's head earlier as they cut Mike off, leaving him paralyzed by what those words as Samael explained, "You think that, even if you manage to win your upcoming duel, you'll be able to just go back to your home, no questions asked?"

Mike had lost his voice in his shock, rendering him unable to answer. But even if he'd been able to, it suddenly dawned on him that he had no idea how he'd be able to make it back to his home anyway. He had no idea how far out into the desert he actually was, much less _where_ Frontier Haven was really located. There was no way for him to tell which direction he would've had to walk in to find his way home, and the idea of walking out into the desert again with either little or no provisions sounded more like a suicide mission than anything else.

Samael took Mike's silence as him realizing what he'd been trying to convey. "You don't have a choice, I'm afraid," Samael made it clear to him, "And even if you did..."

Samael now held up his left arm as he rolled up his sleeve, revealing his X-shaped scar again. "You still bear _this_ , just like the rest of us. And there's a reason why it's called the Mark of _Death_.

"You wouldn't want to bring _that_ back to your friends..." Samael questioned Mike as he turned his head slightly to look back at him, "Would you?"

Mike was stunned silent as the realization tightened its grasp on him, forcing him to his knees. He had no more words that he could come back with—Samael had driven it home that there was no way Mike was able to get out of this.

Samael, seeing that his work was done here, now turned away again. "You have the rest of today, and the next two days, to train the boy," he now addressed Aeron, who had remained unmoving and silent as he watched the two converse.

"Understood," was all Aeron replied with.

Without another word, Samael began walking his way back into Frontier Haven, while Aeron now turned to look at Mike, who was still on his knees in the sand nearby as tears glazed over his eyes. He'd lost concept of time and the world around him as Samael's words finally sank in to him like daggers—there really wasn't any way for him to get home after all.

"Come on, get up."

Mike forced himself to look up and see, to his surprise, Aeron looming over him with a hand extended. His eyes were displaying what was the first hint of emotion that Mike had ever seen from him: sympathy.

Mike took grasp of Aeron's hand as he let the latter pull him back to his feet. "Thank you..." Mike managed to stammer out to him, but Aeron merely shook his head, as if to let him know that "thanks" weren't necessary.

"You're lucky that Samael seems to expect a lot from you," Aeron explained to him before turning his back to him, moving back towards where he'd stood during their duel just minutes ago.

Mike watched as Aeron walked with an inquisitive stare. "Just what does he expect me to do, anyway?" he implored, "Does he think I'm gonna be the one to take out that Keir guy?"

"That would appear to be the case," Aeron spoke as he continued walking, "For some reason, he seems hell-bent on believing that you can do it."

Mike's felt his gut wrench at this comment as Aeron continued, "It's like he said—he saw a potential within you that's being held back by your inability to duel for yourself."

Now Aeron turned to face Mike from where he stood during their last duel. "That's why it's my job to train you," he explained as he pulled out his revolver-duel disk again, "To break you out of that habit. Otherwise..."

Aeron's voice now turned even graver than Mike had ever heard from him before: "You _will_ lose that duel, and you _will_ die."

Mike took this in as he realized that Aeron's words were all completely true. He sure as hell wasn't going to be able to go home to his friends anytime soon, and it seemed there was no getting out of this upcoming duel without trying to run off, which would more than likely guarantee his death in the end.

So to Mike, there was only one option: he reactivated the revolver-duel disk upon his arm that Aeron had given him, his deck being automatically shuffled by it as he finally said, "No use wasting any time, then. Let's go again!"

Now Aeron cracked the smallest of smirks for the first time, seeing the renewed fire in Mike's eyes as they both drew five cards once again.

"DUEL!"

 ** _\- FLASHBACK END -_**

* * *

Mike couldn't find it in himself to sleep for the rest of the night after he'd returned to his hotel room, given his memories wouldn't stop floating around in his head like a bad nightmare that he couldn't wake from.

He was beginning to find it frustrating that he couldn't push the memories out of his mind now that he was finally back in County Dame. The whole reason he'd chosen to finally come home after two years was so that he'd be able to put these memories behind him, and to try and revert back to the person he'd been before he'd gone to Frontier Haven.

But as the hours passed on, it began to dawn on him that perhaps he'd been expecting results a little too quickly. It was only his second night back, after all; and memories like the ones that were haunting him would take time before they stopped popping into his mind so frequently.

Nevertheless, this didn't change the fact that he'd been unable to sleep for the entire night, so he tried turning his phone back on to try and text either Danny, Marina, or Violet. But he quickly decided against that in the end, as he expect any of them to be awake in the early hours of a Saturday morning, and he didn't want to wake them up.

The only thing he _did_ find was another text from Violet that had been sent many hours before, reading:

 ** _Violet:_** **im sorry about holding you up last night. dads grounded me so i cant see you or anyone for the next few weeks. thanks for staying with me though :)**

Though he was touched that he'd been able to help her, something else now entered into his mind that took his thoughts off of his morbid memories: the fact that Violet's father, Bulbous, had appeared to have turned into an abusive alcoholic.

It made sense to Mike about _why_ he was like this now, after having heard from Violet about his deli's closing, but it was still hard to believe that Bulbous had sunk to such a low point. And what was even more out of character for him was the fact that he'd grounded Violet, as he'd never really punished her for anything before.

He hadn't realized how long he had been pondering over these conundrums in his head until he finally checked the time on his phone, which read 5 AM. He couldn't believe how quickly the night had flown by, but he was glad that he'd been able to keep his mind busy throughout the night.

He lifted himself up off of his bed and made his way to the motel lobby, returning the small envelope with the key to the old man before walking into the city once more. He figured it would be best to re-familiarize himself with his former home, and he couldn't think of a better way to do so other than an early-morning stroll.

But to his surprise, he found that it wasn't hard to navigate the streetlight-lit roads at all: everything was still exactly where it had been before he'd left. All the retail outlets and fast food chains that he remembered were all still in the same places as he remembered, with the exception of the few that had apparently gone out of business or moved to other locations.

As he walked, he found that the homesickness that had plagued him while he was in Frontier Haven was finally beginning to disappear. The few hours he spent navigating the city helped begin to fill the hole that had been left in his heart from the last two years, making him feel more like who he'd been before.

But the more he realized his homesickness was going away, the more that word reminded him of what it was that he was missing: a home.

He'd already gone through three homes in his life, and he was only eighteen. He had watched his first home burn down before his eyes; the second had been an orphanage run by an old nun who didn't really care for the kids that she was charged with caring for; and the third that was Frontier Haven had put him through the two most traumatizing years of his life. And he knew he wouldn't be able to stay in the old motel any longer; the cost for staying there alone had already burned a huge hole in his pocket.

As he contemplated about a place where he'd be able to stay, he hadn't realized that his aimless wandering around County Dame had brought him back to the apartment that he had walked Violet home to the night before. He was only a few blocks away from the building before suddenly stopping at the sound of the opening and closing of its doors. And from afar, who he saw exiting the building made his eyebrows rise with surprise:

Out from the apartment walked a round, large, and bulky man with messy, unkempt brown hair and a beard of matching color and messiness. On him was a dark green t-shirt that was incapable of covering the entirety of his muffin-top belly, and the buttons on his large jeans looked as though they were about to snap off at any moment. He stood at an intimidating height of 6'4".

Despite his altered appearance, there wasn't a doubt in Mike's mind about who it was he was looking at. What he couldn't believe was how badly Bulbous had let himself go—he had always been big and stocky in figure, but nowhere close to this magnitude.

Now he watched Bulbous begin walking into the city as he wondered: where would a grown man like him have to travel to on foot at 7 AM in the morning?

Mike came to only one conclusion as to how he was going to get that answer: it was time for a game of 'follow the leader,' and Bulbous would be playing the leader.

* * *

Mike made sure to stay a good distance away from Bulbous, so as to seem like he wasn't stalking the man to any of the other early risers walking or driving about, or to attract Bulbous's attention and make him aware of the fact he was being followed.

As he treaded after Bulbous, he also found himself becoming more and more familiarized with his old home than before. Now he was beginning to remember all of his old shortcuts and landmarks that he used to hang out at, and the images of places that had once been etched into his mind were starting to come back too.

But as for the end result of his little chase, he was so stunned by where Bulbous had entered into that he had to stop and stare at it as he read its name from the outside:

"Park 'n Shop...?" he uttered as Bulbous disappeared within the supermarket's automatic doors.

It took him a moment, but it quickly made sense: given Bulbous's large size, it was clear that Bulbous liked going out to feed his indulgences early in the morning so no one else out of the major public saw him.

Then another thought occurred to Mike, brought about by the sudden rumble of his stomach: he hadn't really eaten anything in days, and he could have used some food as well. Now seemed like the perfect time to fill his stomach up with something so he could last a little longer. He just needed to be careful about how much he spent, as nearly all of the money he'd brought with him from Frontier Haven had gone to paying for that motel room. Now he had only a couple hundred dollars left in twenties, so he'd have to spend with caution.

Mike stepped his way into the store, and inside only picked out a few items: a couple of water bottles, a box of crackers, some fruit, and some milk cartons. That would at least tide him over for a couple of days, and it would only cost him around twenty dollars.

He was ready to proceed to the checkout lines before he saw Bulbous standing in one of the lines. Mike decided to hang back in one of the aisles just so he could observe the man from afar, and get a good look at his basket of goodies.

And just as he'd predicted, the basket was filled up with nothing but junk: puddings, two-liter soda bottles, beef jerkies, cookies and candies of all kinds, etc. Maybe a few years ago, as a young teenager, Mike would've appreciated having all that junk food to munch on. But now, looking at Bulbous's size, he couldn't have been more sick to his stomach.

It was in that moment that someone else in the background suddenly caught his eye: a man who looked to be about in his mid-twenties that had just entered the store wearing a dark-green hoodie, jeans, and a duel disk attached to his arm. His entire body seemed to be shaking somewhat, making his hands that were buried in his jacket seem like they were fidgeting with something.

Mike glued himself to the shelf in the aisle he was in. He wasn't getting a good vibe from this guy, and from all the experience he had with bad people, he was pretty good at being able to tell who was bad news and who wasn't.

It was only a few moments later when the hooded man began walking through one of the cashier's lanes, before suddenly grabbing the female cashier who had been tending to Bulbous's goodies in a chokehold with one arm, while pulling a gun out of his pocket with the other and aiming it at her head.

"EVERYONE GET ON THE GROUND!" he yelled at the top of his lungs as the sound of his gun cocking echoed through the store.

Without a moment's hesitation, nearly everyone in the store either shrieked, shouted, or both as they fell to the ground with their hands on their heads, as if bowing down to the man's power. And in this situation, he DID have all the power: he had a hostage and was armed with a firearm. No one would've run the risk of making any sudden movements.

That's why Mike's movements were slow and subtle as he crawled away along the aisle he was in, listening as the shaking gunman now used his hostage-taking hand to pull out a big cloth bag from his hoodie and throw it on the cashier's counter.

"Fill it up, quick!" the robber rushed, his breathing fast and almost panting.

The cashier, in her fright, immediately had the cash register open and was pouring every last dollar and coin from it that she could into her captor's bag as the armed man now shouted to the rest of the store's occupants, "IF I HEAR SO MUCH AS AN ALARM GO OFF, OR SEE ANYBODY MOVE, I'M GONNA DECORATE THIS CONVEYOR BELT WITH THIS WOMAN'S BRAINS!"

Bulbous, having been standing in front of that register earlier, had sunk to his knees and kept his hands on his head, but his steely-gray eyes didn't linger away from the crazed criminal before him.

Just as the register was emptied of its last coin, now the robber pointed the gun at Bulbous as his grip around the cashier tightened. "Now you, old coot!" the man demanded, "All your money, in the bag, now!"

Anyone who saw Bulbous's face would've thought that he was insane as an expression of anger took over his face as he now stood, towering over the cashier and robber before him.

"Over my dead body," was his dark, gruff voice's response.

The gunman's trigger finger was starting to twitch now. One bad shake, and he would've kill Bulbous where he stood.

"I mean it, old man!" the gunman persisted as sweat drenched his face, "I mean it, I'll shoot!"

"Not likely."

No one had even noticed Mike stealthily sneaking around from behind the crook before he said that, followed by throwing his arm up into the criminal's gun arm, which shot into one of the ceiling lights, dimming the area mildly as more shrieks echoed in the store.

Mike's maneuver managed to cause the shaking madman to drop his gun elsewhere, while also releasing his grip on the cashier as his attention now turned to hauling his fist at Mike, landing a blow into his abdomen that nearly knocked the wind out of him as he buckled. Seeing that his plan had been compromised, he grabbed his money bag and made a mad dash for the doors as the alarm finally began to blare.

Mike managed to stand himself up and regain control of his breathing just in time: he rushed out the door after the man, pulling out what looked like some kind of cuffs from one of his duster's pockets as he reached the parking lot. He aimed and launched one of the cuffs towards the fleeing robber, revealing that a long, steel cable connected the two. The one that had been launched managed to lock itself onto the hooded man's duel disk arm, jolting him to a stop as it forced his gun and his bag of money out of his hands, landing in a lump not five feet away.

Mike stopped and stood his ground where he was, determined to not let the deranged criminal go as he now desperately tried to unhook the cuff from his arm.

Now Mike used his other free hand to draw his pistol-shaped duel disk from its holster, arming his left arm with it as he called out to the gunman: "If you want to escape from this, I'll cut you a deal."

Mike had the madman's mad eyes locked onto his now as he attached the other cuff to his own duel disk arm. "If you can defeat me in a duel," Mike explained to him, "You're free to go and get your bag of dough over there."

He tried to choose his words carefully so as to not set off the lunatic he was facing. His shaking, his heavy breathing, his rushed speech; all of those things seemed like pretty obvious signs that Mike didn't want to push any of this man's buttons.

A crowd had now formed around the two duelists from people both in the parking lot and inside the store. No one could even begin to understand what Mike seemed to have in mind except for himself:

 _'As long as I keep this guy preoccupied until the cops arrive,'_ Mike reasoned, _'I can keep this nut-job from hurting anyone and keep him detained.'_

Now, as more and more people joined the crowd, whispers and mutterings could be heard amidst them as they watched Mike and the crazed robber face off:

"Is that Damian White...?"

"You mean the convict who escaped from Tallgate Prison...?!"

"How did he break out of there?!"

"Who's the kid trying to catch him?"

"Isn't he the one who disappeared two years ago...?"

Mike ignored the sideline commentary as he locked eyes with the criminal named Damian, who glared back at him with a fury not unlike what Mike had seen before. The man's disturbed trembling appeared to have ceased, but another kind of madness seemed to have taken control of him as he too activated his duel disk.

"Alright!" he finally accepted Mike's challenge, "I doubt you'd be able to defeat me, anyway!"

"Let's find out, then!" Mike countered as he activated his own duel disk,

And with that, they both drew five cards as they finally cried out, "LET'S DUEL!"

* * *

 **Next Time**

 **Chapter 5: "Instinct"**

* * *

 ** _\- Last Revised: May 2, 2017 -_**


	5. Instinct

**Yu-Gi-Oh! Mark of Death**

 **Chapter 5: "Instinct"**

 **Opening Theme: "Raining" by Art Of Dying**

 **Ending Theme: "Behind Blue Eyes" by Limp Bizkit**

* * *

The gathered crowd in the Park 'n Shop parking lot held their breaths as they looked on at the duel that was about to begin. Mike, with his duel disk arm now connected by a steel cable to the robber named Damian's duel disk arm, stood about ten feet away from his opponent as the two exchanged deep glares.

Bulbous Alyssum, now at the front of the pack of shoppers that had emerged from the store, watched in awe as his eyes caught notice of Mike as he and the escaped convict cried out, "LET'S DUEL!"

 **[Mike – LP: 8000]**

 **[Damian – LP: 8000]**

 _'There's no way that this is him...'_ Bulbous silently denied, _'THIS is who I was trying to protect Violet from...?'_

* * *

 _ **\- THE NIGHT BEFORE -**_

Bulbous placed the wireless phone on its charging dock hard after hanging up on his daughter. His voice was strained from the firm, strong yelling he'd forced into the receiver, so he took another swig from the beer bottle in his hand that was almost empty to soothe his throat.

He looked around at the disastrous sight that was his apartment's living room: empty bottles of the same beer he was drinking lay scattered around the floor, as well as a number of wrappers from fast food orders that he'd never bothered to throw out. His coffee table that he was resting his legs on could barely be seen under wrappers of the same kind, and the small television on its stand had a crack across his screen; a reminder of the night he'd gone into a rage and tried to take a swing at his own daughter as anger blinded him.

Since then, Violet may have forgiven him for the incident because she understood how distraught her father was, but he'd never let himself forget. He'd spent his entire life making his daughter's safety and happiness his top priority, but what he'd heard about from the day before complicated things.

After Violet had returned home the previous night, she had immediately begun telling her father about how Mike, the boy she'd been in love with since they were kids, had apparently returned and defeated Josiah, the bully they'd been dealing with since middle school, in a duel upon his arrival. Though at first this sounded excellent, he was taken aback when he then heard his daughter's other comments about the way he'd been stone cold to Josiah throughout the duel, his reluctance to share anything about where he'd been for the last two years, and his drastic wardrobe change into a bullet-torn duster.

That last bit sounded almost too terrible to be true, but if his daughter _was_ telling the truth, then he didn't want Violet going anywhere near him now. Though it pained him to make that decision—he'd known Mike for all of the boy's life, and to break that bond with the son of his deceased best friends was almost unbearable. But he needed to keep Violet safe as well, both from physical _and_ emotional harm, and he wasn't about to let his daughter try to be with somebody with so dark of a past that he wouldn't even say anything about it. It would be too much for her to handle.

Now, as he heard his daughter open the door around the cornered wall next to his television, he felt as if he'd made the right choice of seeing to it she stayed away from him. But there was one thing about Violet's entrance that he did not like: he heard her crying.

"What's wrong, Angel?" he called her by her nickname with a slur, however his tone only sounded half-concerned; an emptiness lingered where the rest of his care for her should have been.

There was a momentary pause before his daughter stormed into the living room, dashing across Bulbous's view of the television momentarily before rounding another corner into the kitchen. She didn't look at him, nor respond; she was giving him the silent treatment.

Bulbous rolled his eyes at the way his daughter was behaving. "I'm not gonna be able to help you if you don't tell me what's wrong!" he reminded her, the little care he'd had previously now replaced with annoyance.

He heard her slam her school bag and folders onto the kitchen table with frustration. Moments later, she reemerged into the living room carrying nothing, however her hair was strewn over her face and her eyes were welling with tears.

"How could you...?" she brokenly whispered to her father, "How could you forbid me to be with the only guy I've ever really cared for... after he FINALLY comes back...?!"

Bulbous sighed as he lifted himself off the couch, and he walked over to face her. "I'm only trying to protect you, Violet," he said, "After what you told me about him last night, I just don't think you should be around him."

Violet shifted her weight between her legs as she finally got her voice back a little: "You haven't even seen him since he's been back..." she whimpered, "You have no idea how wrong you are about him...!"

"Well then prove to me that he's alright!" Bulbous shot back at her arrogantly, "Can you prove to me that he's not become mentally eff'ed up? That he's still perfectly fine after being somewhere that put bullets in his clothes? You have no idea what he might've been through the last two years, and I don't want him or that past hurting you!"

"But he won't!" Violet protested, "I swear, he's still the same guy as before! He's just..."

"He's just _what_ , Violet?" Bulbous inquired, daring his daughter to try and antagonize him more.

But Violet just shook her head as she growled in aggravation. "Why do you always do this to me?!" she now cried, "Ever since the deli closed down, all you ever do is make my life more and more miserable!"

That sank into Bulbous's heart like a knife as his daughter continued, "You set my curfew unreasonably early, you never try to listen to me, you punish me for the stupidest reasons, and—!"

"LOOK!" Bulbous's booming voice interrupted, cutting Violet off as she now flinched in fright; she hated it when her father yelled: "I don't give a good goddamn about what you think of how I act, or the rules I set for you! All you have to know is that I do it to protect you, and you should be grateful!"

"I should be grateful that you've stripped me of nearly all of my freedom?!" Violet shot back, her tears that were once of sorrow now reflecting anger in her misty, silver orbs.

Now Bulbous was done with this argument; he'd been enraged enough by his daughter's insistent denial of his authority. "I'm not going to tolerate this..." he growled through clenched teeth, "You're grounded for the next month now, too. And if I EVER see or hear word of you hanging out with Mike again, there's gonna be _hell_ to pay."

Now he had Violet cornered. She could hate his choices all she wanted, but once he put the last, punishing word down, there was no coming back from that.

And as he expected, she'd gone silent, glaring at him for one more moment as tears fell from her eyes, before she ran to her room, slamming the door behind her and locking it.

Bulbous sat himself down again, his own rage simmering down as well. He felt terrible for having to hurt Violet even more, but there was only so long he could tolerate her rebellious teenage ways of trying to stand up to everything he said.

But now, he couldn't help but wonder: what if Mike really _wasn't_ in as bad of a shape as he'd thought? What if he really was still the same, nice-hearted young man that he'd grown to adore for sixteen years? What if he'd just broken his daughter's heart for nothing...?

 _ **\- FLASHBACK END -**_

* * *

Now, here he was looking at the same young man he'd heard about, all grown up and fending off an attacker who had shoved a gun in his face only minutes before. The crook named Damian's bag of cash and his gun were only feet away, and Mike was doing everything he could to make sure this man wasn't going to get them.

"I'll kick things off!" Damian cried as he took the first draw, "And I'll begin by activating a field spell: Venom Swamp!"

Mike narrowed his eyes as his surroundings suddenly began to change: he, Damian, and all of the onlookers watching them were now standing with their feet buried in swampy water. The marshy waters were home to large, dead trees that stood bare of any leaves or anything other sort of wildlife. A thick fog hung heavy in the air near everyone's feet.

"Next I'll set a monster in DEF mode!" Damian continued as a horizontally-set monster card appeared on his field, "And set one more card face down!

"Now let's see what you've got!" Damian snarled at Mike, glaring into his eyes.

Mike drew silently as he assessed his opponent. _'He dropped the shaking as soon as the duel started...'_ he noted silently, _'And now he's all fired up about this duel... he's clearly not mentally stable, so I best keep my guard up.'_

"I summon Constellar Leonis!" Mike began.

 **[Constellar Leonis – ATK: 1000]**

"And with its special ability," Mike explained, "I'm allowed to normal summon one other Constellar monster this turn. So I'll release my Leonis so I can advance summon my Constellar Antares!"

 **[Constellar Antares – ATK: 2400]**

"I'll then follow that up with Antares's special ability," Mike continued as he took the only card in his graveyard back, "Bringing Leonis back to my hand!"

"So you recycled your monster!" Damian retorted with a devilish grin, "Doesn't matter!"

"It will in the long run, believe me," Mike assured him, "But for now, I'm gonna focus on that set monster of yours: Antares, attack!"

Antares took up his chained spearhead of light energy and hauled it into the image of the card that concealed Damian's monster as it flipped:

 **[Venom Cobra – DEF: 2000]**

"As I expected: too weak!" Mike cried out as Antares now sliced through the body of the revealed snake, destroying it.

But Damian didn't see shaken in the slightest. In fact, he actually seemed jittery as he now flipped his other set card: "You just triggered my Snake Whistle trap!

"This allows me to special summon another LV 4 or lower reptile monster from my deck when another one kicks the bucket in battle! So welcome, my Venom Serpent!"

 **[Venom Serpent – ATK: 1000]**

Mike's eyes narrowed. "I'll set a card face down," he wrapped up, "And end my turn."

"Then we can get to my favorite part now!" Damian cried as he pointed at Mike's Antares, which suddenly found itself being assaulted by a small, blue snake that had emerged from the depths of the Venom Swamp, biting into his armor.

"What the hell is that...?!" Mike demanded to know, his eyes wide from the shock of what he'd just witnessed.

"A venom counter!" Damian replied gleefully, "A counter that goes on every single monster on the playing field during the end phase of every turn! And as long as Venom Swamp stays in play, each venom counter on a monster steals 500 ATK points away from that monster!"

 **[Constellar Antares – ATK: 1900]**

Mike glared at Damian's Venom Serpent now. "I'm guessing that your Serpent is impervious to your Swamp's effect since it didn't get a counter, then..." Mike reasoned as his mind raced quickly to try and come up with a solution.

"Correct!" Damian confirmed as he drew his next card, "And now that it's my turn again, I'm gonna show you that it doesn't just stop there!

"I'll begin this turn with my Serpent's special ability!" he exclaimed, "And with it, I can put ANOTHER venom counter on your Antares!"

"Say what?!" Mike shot back, unable to believe what he was hearing.

"You heard me!" Damian said as his Venom Serpent shot another small snake like the one that Venom Swamp had shot out, which too latched itself onto Antares, who groaned as its power weakened.

 **[Constellar Antares – ATK: 1400]**

"Now I'll summon my Venom Snake!" Damian continued.

 **[Venom Snake – ATK: 1200]**

"And like my Serpent," he explained, "He can also place a venom counter on a monster you control!"

Mike growled in frustration as yet another small snake latched itself to Antares. He was slowly watching his monster die.

 **[Constellar Antares – ATK: 900]**

"Next, I'll activate the spell card known as Venom Shot!" Damian cried as he took another Venom Snake from his deck and placed it in his graveyard, "So by offering up one more reptile monster from my deck, I place two more counters on a monster!"

"But then Antares will have nothing left!" Mike cried out as he watched two more snakes take a bite out of Antares, who now sank to his knees.

 **[Constellar Antares – ATK: 0]**

"Oh, but you see!" Damian corrected with a lifted finger, "Your monster doesn't just have 'nothing' left—your monster is now _nothing at all!_ "

Mike watched with horror as his monster sank into the Venom Swamp, taking its many snake-shaped counters with it as it was destroyed.

"Venom Swamp destroys any and all monsters whose ATK hits 0 from having venom counters!" he explained, "So with your field clear, I'll attack you directly with my Serpent!"

The named snake launched itself at Mike, who braced himself as the creature coiled itself around his arm before sinking its fangs into him, making him cry out sharply before releasing him and returning to Damian's field.

 **[Mike – LP: 7000]**

Mike staggered as Damian cackled at his successful move. "Oh, that was great!" he cried out, "I can't wait to make you suffer even _more!_ "

Mike gritted his teeth as he regained his balance. He hadn't been in a duel like this since his very last one in Frontier Haven before he'd left. He'd been able to defeat duelists like Danny and Josiah with ease because he'd been trained to face off against much stronger and experienced opponents; but this Damian character was definitely within the same league that he was used to.

"I'll finish with one card face down!" Damian concluded, "Now I'll let you summon something else for me to poison with my _venom!_ "

Mike drew silently once again. _'I've got to strike hard and fast if I want to win. Any defense I throw out there is only gonna get eaten alive...'_ Mike noted to himself as he observed his hand.

"I summon Constellar Pollux!" Mike called out.

 **[Constellar Pollux – ATK: 1700]**

"And thanks to him, just like my Leonis, I can also call forth my Constellar Siat to the field!"

 **[Constellar Siat – ATK: 100]**

"And his effect," Mike continued, "Lets him copy the LV of any other Constellar monster on my field or my graveyard! So for this turn, I'll have him copy Pollux's LV!"

 **[Constellar Siat – LV: 4]**

"But he and Pollux won't be sticking around," Mike explained as a spatial portal formed that absorbed his two monsters, "By overlaying them, I Xyz summon my Constellar Praesepe!"

 **[Constellar Praesepe – ATK: 2400]**

"Alright, let's not waste any time!" Mike declared as he pointed at Venom Serpent, "Constellar Praesepe, attack Venom Serpent!"

As Praesepe rose into the air to prepare his attack, Mike added: "And in case you didn't know, my Praesepe can detach an overlay unit to give himself an extra 1000 ATK during the damage step!"

 **[Constellar Praesepe – ATK: 3400]**

Damian grinned as Praesepe now dived towards his Serpent. "I activate my trap!" he cried as his set card flipped.

"Too late!" Mike told him as he watched Praesepe grab the Venom Serpent in his fist, crushing it until it burst in his hand and was destroyed.

 **[Damian – LP: 5600]**

Mike gave a small smirk. He was able to take a huge chunk out of Damian's LP, as well as destroy one of those snakes before it could put any more counters on his monsters.

But as the smoke cleared on Damian's field, Mike found that a surprise had been left behind in place of Damian's destroyed Serpent: a gigantic, blue boa snake with three eyes.

 **[Venom Boa – ATK: 1600]**

"Where did that come from...?" Mike wondered aloud as Damian cackled hysterically.

"Allow me to explain!" Damian said as he pointed to his newly-flipped continuous trap, "I activated my Damage = Reptile trap card just before the battle! Now, whenever I get hit with damage when one of my reptiles battle, I can then summon another reptile monster from my deck with ATK that's equal to or less than the damage I took!

"And since your attack took out 2400 of my LP, you gave me quite an advantage by letting me summon this powerful monster to my field!" he taunted with a sneer.

Mike scoffed. The fact that this psychopath was able to read and counteract all of his movies was infuriating.

"I'll place two cards face down," Mike concluded, "That's all for now."

 **[Constellar Praesepe – ATK: 2400]**

"Not quite!" Damian reminded Mike as a snake emerged from the Venom Swamp, sinking its fangs into Praesepe now.

 **[Constellar Praesepe – ATK: 1900]**

Mike gritted his teeth while Damian chuckled as he drew next. "I see that you can't figure out how to get around my Venom combo!" he rubbed the fact in Mike's face, "Well, it's only gonna get worse for you now!

"First, my Venom Snake is gonna put another counter on your Praesepe!" he explained as the Snake spat out another snake-shaped counter, this time at Praesepe.

But Mike was prepared for it this time: "I activate my Breakthrough Skill trap!" he countered as his set card flipped, intercepting the snake-shaped counter as it hit the trap card instead of its intended target.

Damian raised an eyebrow at this. "You had a trap waiting in the wings..." he muttered with interest.

"I sure did," Mike confirmed with a slight smile, "I knew you'd try to poison my monster again, which is why I set this trap card! Now your monster's special abilities are negated for the rest of the turn!"

But much to Mike's chagrin, Damian's face sudden switched back from disappointment to a maniacal smile. "It makes no difference that you negated my Snake's effect or not!" he exclaimed, "Because you see, my Venom Boa's got a nasty effect of his own!

Mike's eyebrows knit with frustration as Damian explained, "See, he puts not just one, but _two_ venom counters on a monster at a time!"

Venom Boa now shot two snakes from its mouth onto Praesepe, who too was now on his knees like Antares was before.

 **[Constellar Praesepe – ATK: 900]**

Mike was regretting having challenged this criminal now. He'd figured that a psychopath like this guy would have to be _brilliant_ in some exceptional way, and of course it had to have been in a duel.

"Of course..." Damian now spoke a little more calmly, "Both my Snake and my Boa can't declare attacks during the turn they use their effects.

"So instead, I'll release them both!" he cried, making Mike wide-eyed as he watched the two reptiles sink into the murky depths of the Venom Swamp, "And now, I call forth my Vennominon, the King of Poisonous Snakes!"

Mike watched as in the place of the two offered reptiles emerged the figure of royalty of the Venom Swamp, decked out in its golden snake crown and velvet cape. But despite its overbearing appearance, Mike was ultimately surprised when we saw this creature's stats.

 **[Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes – ATK: 0]**

"You're probably wondering why he's got no ATK; right?" Damian read Mike's mind.

"How about you shut up and just get to explaining already?" Mike snapped back, his patience growing thin now.

Back in the crowd of people, Bulbous was stunned at these words from Mike. He'd never once heard him talk like that to anyone—at least, not in the sixteen years he'd known him. He could only figure that this must have been the "cold" demeanor that Violet had described to him, but the fact that he hadn't said or done anything else provocative throughout the rest of the duel had Bulbous wondering again about whether or not he had been right about Mike...

Meanwhile, Damian scowled at Mike. "You're no fun..." he muttered, "But if you must know, Vennominon gains 500 ATK for every single reptile in my graveyard, and right now I have _five!_ "

 **[Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes – ATK: 2500]**

"Now, Vennominon!" Damian cried out, "Attack and destroy his Praesepe!"

From Vennominon's mouth, the reptilian king shot a burst of what Mike assumed was venom towards Praesepe.

He thought fast: "I'll minimize the damage I take by detaching Praesepe's last overlay unit to give him another 1000 ATK during this damage step!" he cried out at the last second.

 **[Constellar Praesepe – ATK: 1900]**

Praesepe's entire body was spattered with Vennominon's venom blast before dissolving into nothingness in the Venom Swamp.

 **[Mike – LP: 6400]**

Damian cackled devilishly. "You just can't get past my Venom monsters, Mike!" he taunted.

"Coming from the one with fewer LP..." Mike muttered as he drew next, "My turn!"

"First, I activate my Call Of The Haunted trap card!" Mike flipped his set trap, "And with it, I bring Constellar Pollux back to the field!"

 **[Constellar Pollux – ATK: 1700]**

"And next I'll have Constellar Algiedi come out and join him!" Mike continued.

 **[Constellar Algiedi – ATK: 1600]**

"And now, by overlaying these two monsters..." Mike cried out as his two monsters were swallowed by another spatial portal, "I Xyz summon Starliege Paladynamo!"

 **[Starliege Paladynamo – ATK: 2000]**

"And he's ready to dethrone your king!" Mike explained, "Because with his special ability, I can detach both of his overlay units in order to wipe out all of your monster's abilities and ATK!"

Damian was now the surprised one as he watched Starliege slash through his King, making him stagger as his power was lost.

 **[Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes – ATK: 0]**

"His ATK points...!" Damian wailed with despair.

"Are gone!" Mike finished for him, "Now, Starliege Paladynamo; attack!"

Starliege swung his spatial blade through the King of Poisonous Snakes, who doubled over as he writhed in pain before exploding as he was destroyed.

 **[Damian – LP: 3600]**

"Your King has been slain!" Mike proclaimed with a smirk.

But Damian's shocked face suddenly changed back to a sly grin as he chuckled. "You really thought it'd be that simple?" he patronized, putting a confused look on Mike's face; "My Vennominon can't be taken down THAT easily!"

Mike's eyes narrowed as he now watched the spot in the Swamp where Vennominon had shattered, which was bubbling violently before his worst fear was realized: rising from the dark depths was the King of Poisonous Snakes himself, back and ready to fight again.

 **[Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes – ATK: 2000]**

 _'It came back weaker than it was before...'_ Mike noted silently, _'So for it to revive...'_

"I can see from the look on your face that you're beginning to understand my Vennominon's power!" Damian observed as he snatched his Venom Cobra from his duel disk's grave; "By banishing a reptile from my graveyard, my King automatically revives after a battle!"

Mike was seething now. Every single move he'd made so far had done nothing aside from amuse this guy. No matter what move he made, Damian had a counter for it; and the Venom Swamp they were battling in continued to make a meal out of every monster Mike threw at him.

But then he finally heard them: police sirens. The cops were finally about to arrive.

The rest of the crowd, along with Damian, had heard them too apparently, as a huge gap had suddenly formed as the citizens moved out of the way of the entrance to the parking lot, where two police cars finally pulled up and parked themselves before two cops emerged from each car.

 **"FREEZE!"** one of the cops shouted through a megaphone as the rest of the cops all aimed their pistols towards Damian from behind their opened car doors; **"CDPD! DROP YOUR CARDS AND YOUR DUEL DISK, AND PUT YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEAD!"**

The rest of the onlookers were beginning to back up as much as they could. Nobody wanted to be in the line of gunfire if the cops ended up needing to shoot Damian down.

As Mike looked back to his opponent, he could see a new look in Damian's eyes: the evil gleam that he'd be staring into before looked as though it had turned to fire—a fire that was ready to set ablaze everyone and everything around him.

Damian now turned his attention away from the onlookers and cops to focus on Mike for a moment as it clicked in his brain: "This duel..." he uttered as his eyes locked with Mike's, "It was just a diversion, wasn't it?! To keep me from escaping before the cops finally came to take me away, right?!"

Mike stared coolly back into Damian's eyes. Despite the mounting anxiety he'd had just moments before, all of it seemed to disappear within him as he realized he wouldn't need to continue this duel. The cops would take this guy in, and hopefully put him in a more-secure cell than his last one.

Unfortunately, that sweet thought quickly vanished from Mike's mind as Damian jerked up his right arm, causing a small device of some kind to pop into his hand from his sleeve as the cops steadied their aim, in case he was about to attack.

But that wasn't the case. In fact, what _was_ the case proved to be much worse:

"LISTEN UP!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, "N MY HAND IS A REMOTE DETONATOR THAT'S SET TO DETONATE THE BOMB THAT I HAVE HIDDEN UNDERNEATH MY JACKET!"

More shrieks and panicking came from the surrounding crowds now as people started trying to run away, but Damian's commanding, psychotic voice kept them glued where they stood when he then explained, "IF I SEE SO MUCH AS A HEAD WALKING AWAY FROM THIS CROWD, OR IF THE COPS TRY TO PULL ANY FUNNY STUFF, I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL BLOW MYSELF AND EVERYONE ELSE IN THIS LOT TO HELL!"

There was nothing but terrified silence from the crowd now as the cops lowered their weapons. Without being able to see underneath Damian's hoodie, there was no way for them to be able to call his threat a bluff, and they weren't about to take any kind of action that would endanger the lives of everyone else in the area.

Now Damian looked back to Mike, a snarling, evil smile adorning his face as he stared into Mike's ocean-blue eyes. "After all..." he growled in a low tone now at Mike, "Why interrupt our duel when it was just getting good?!"

 _'The guy's insane...'_ Mike realized with wide eyes, _'He'd risk his own life, as well as the lives of everyone else here, just for a bag of cash...?!'_

Mike could feel the weight of the world on his shoulders—not only was he going to have to continue this duel, but now he, Bulbous, and everyone else watching the duel were pretty much Damian's hostage on the doorstep of death. Mike had been in plenty of life-threatening situations before, but he hadn't expected to find himself in one here, of all places.

He'd returned to County Dame to get away from all the death and destruction that he'd been involved in throughout the last two years; but it looked like he would have to face up to it one last time if he was ever going to get his normal life back.

"Go on, then!" Damian goaded Mike, growing impatient as his grip on the detonator in his hand seemed to tighten, "It's still your move!"

Mike wasn't about to keep him waiting so long that he'd blow everyone to bits. "There's nothing more I can do this turn..." Mike concluded through gritted teeth, "Your move, Damian."

"Not just yet!" Damian reminded him, "My Venom Swamp now has another victim to feed on!"

Once more, a small snake emerged from the Swamp and wrapped around Paladynamo's neck, biting into him as he groaned in agony.

 **[Starliege Paladynamo – ATK: 1500]**

Mike looked to his old ace monster with despair as Damian drew, his chuckling turning to cackling once again as he cried out, "Now this is REALLY getting interesting!

"First, I'll activate the spell card, Snake Rain!" he started as he sent another copy of Venom Boa from his hand to his graveyard, "Which lets me send 4 more reptiles from my deck to the graveyard just by discarding a card!"

Mike's eyes widened in shock as they watched Damian take four reptiles from his deck and put them in the graveyard.

"And y'know what else?" Damian said with an evil gleam in his eye, "I also discarded a reptile in order to activate that spell! So with five more reptiles in my graveyard, my King gains 500 more ATK for each one, or 2500 extra points!"

 **[Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes – ATK: 4500]**

Mike's mind went to panic mode as Damian now declared battle: "Now my King, take your revenge and wipe out his Paladynamo!"

Venom shot once again from Vennominon's mouth, which splattered upon Paladynamo and made him writhe in agony before he sank into the Venom Swamp.

 **[Mike – LP: 3400]**

Damian's cackling didn't let up as he tantalized Mike, "Just admit that you've lost already!"

"Not yet!" Mike retorted, trying to keep his confidence up; "When you destroy Starliege Paladynamo, I get to draw another card!"

Mike drew as Damian narrowed his eyes. "Guess I'm done for now," he finished.

Mike drew once more as his anxiety reached its peak. Normally, he wouldn't have been stressing so much with how many LP he still had left; but he also wasn't always facing off against monsters with ATK equal to that of a Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. The only hope he'd ever really had in his deck for taking down a monster like this was his Starliege Paladynamo, and even _he_ hadn't been able to defeat Vennominon. And despite having four cards in his hand, nothing in it was of any use to him at the current moment.

And Mike knew that the clock was ticking in Damian's mind. Unless he either made a move or surrendered, he was sure that Damian was ready to blast both himself and everyone else around them to smithereens. And nothing pained Mike more than the idea of that being on his conscience in his final moments—the thought of having failed to save so many people...

Finally, he sighed as he closed his eyes. "I have no choice..." he solemnly admitted, "But to end my turn."

The surrounding bystanders all shared gasps and whispers at this decision. He was facing against a 4500 ATK monster, and had put out absolutely no defense? Had he really reached the point where he had nothing left, even with four cards in his hand?

Bulbous, amongst the crowd of people, shook his head in denial. If Mike really _was_ the same person he remembered him to be, then there was no way that Mike was about to throw away the match. He couldn't bring himself to accept that, unless the pressure from the added risk of endangering everyone else around him had finally gotten to be too much for him...

Now Damian scoffed at Mike after hearing his opponent end his turn. "Well, now..." Damian drawled as he drew his next card, "If that's really it, then this is the end of the line for you!

"Vennominon!" he cried out, pointing at Mike as he indicated his King's attack target, "Finish this duel now!"

Vennominon once again unhinged his jaw and spat his venom towards Mike, as Damian's cackling reached its highest pitch yet.

But then, the unthinkable happened: just before the venom reached Mike, he suddenly became immersed in a dome of bright, multicolored light that repelled Vennominon's venomous projectile.

"WHAT?!" Damian blurted out, outraged at how his attack appeared to have been thwarted as he took a step back.

The rest of the crowd couldn't believe what they were seeing either. Bulbous's mouth hung open in his ultimate shock, unable to comprehend just what could've happened to have saved Mike from that last assault.

And then everyone heard a tiny voice saying, _"Kuri, kuri!"_ as a small, round, purple creature with a rainbow-colored spike atop its head emerged from the barrier, bouncing happily in the air as the multi-colored shield turned to twinkling dust around Mike, who was now grinning.

"What did you do?!" Damian demanded to know, still taken aback at how his attack had failed to end the duel.

"It's not what I did," Mike answered as he pointed to the small creature before him, "It's what my Rainbow Kuriboh did! Whenever my opponent declares an attack, he can come out onto the field and stop your attack!

"And then..." Mike's grin only broadened as he explained, "He becomes an equip card that equips to your monster, making it so that it can't attack anymore as long as Rainbow Kuriboh stays on the field!"

Damian watch now as Mike's Rainbow Kuriboh gave another cry of _"Kuri kuri!"_ before charging now at his Vennominon, stopping right above the King as another barrier emerged from him; only this time, it was a crystal-clear one that encased Vennominon, who looked about as he realized that he'd been trapped.

Meanwhile, the rest of the onlookers couldn't believe what they had just witnessed. Bulbous, among them, was even more shocked by what he'd seen as he stared at the familiar monster that Mike had just utilized.

He remembered the first time he'd seen it clear as day: the last birthday celebration that Danny, Marina, and Violet had all thrown together for Mike's sixteenth birthday before he'd disappeared. They'd held a small party in Bulbous's deli, where Bulbous had given them all free sandwiches, and even showed off his baking skills by making the most delicious chocolate cake that any of the four friends had ever tasted.

But Violet had waited until Danny and Marina had left before finally giving Mike his gift: the Rainbow Kuriboh card, which she thought Mike could add to his deck so that he'd always have a reminder of her whenever he dueled.

And now, here was that card that she had given Mike two years ago, still in his deck even after he'd seemed to have gone through so many changes.

 _'Violet was right...'_ Bulbous realized in his mind as a heavy feeling took hold of his heart, _'I was wrong about Mike... and I've probably been wrong about a lot of other things too...'_

Back in the duel, Damian cried out in a furious outrage as the fire in his eyes seemed to consume him, sending chills down the spines of every onlooker before he cried out, "I'll teach you to make a fool out of me!

"I activate my Mystical Space Typhoon!" he exclaimed maddeningly, "Which'll get rid of your pesky Kuriboh!"

A giant whirlwind suddenly erupted in the middle of the field, which sucked in the Rainbow Kuriboh hovering over Vennominon, who gave a fearful cry of _"KURI!"_ before disappearing within the winds.

Mike's heart ached at the sight of losing his favorite monster by Damian's whirlwind, but he didn't have time to mourn. With Rainbow Kuriboh gone, he had no way of preventing Damian's Vennominon from attacking him, which meant that, unless he drew something to help him win in the next turn, he would probably be setting low-LV monsters in DEF mode until he ran out, which would lose him the duel with one final attack from Vennominon.

"Quit stalling and make a move already!" Damian shot at Mike, "Throw out some monsters for my King to devour!"

Mike put his fingers to his deck. _'This is it, then...'_ he reminded himself silently, _'If I don't pull a winning card now, it's over...!'_

And with that, he drew his final card of the duel.

For a moment, there was absolute silence save for the ambient noise of the surrounding cityscape. Everyone's eyes were fixated on Mike, waiting to see whether or not he was about to win or lose. Bulbous's heart was trying to pound its way out of his chest, waiting to see if his daughter's lifelong love interest was done for.

But now, as Mike looked to the card he'd drawn, a strategy started piecing itself together in his mind—a _winning_ strategy.

"Damian..." Mike now calmly—almost unnervingly calmly—spoke to the crazed man as a grin spread across his face, "I hope you're ready to lose."

Damian's eyebrows rose in shock as Mike began: "First, I'm summoning Constellar Leonis back to the field!"

 **[Constellar Leonis – ATK: 1000]**

"Now remember when I said that this guy would come in handy in the long run?" Mike made Damian recall to the beginning of their duel, "Well now you'll see why: his effect lets me normal summon another Constellar monster from my hand! And I choose Constellar Sheratan!"

 **[Constellar Sheratan – ATK: 700]**

"And with his effect," Mike went on, "I can add another Constellar monster from my deck to my hand! And I choose my Constellar Acubens!

"What good did that just do you?!" Damian demanded to know, unsure of what Mike was planning.

"All the good in the world," Mike coolly replied, "Because now I can overlay my Leonis and Sheratan to build the overlay network one more time!"

Once more, Mike's monsters disappeared into a spatial portal as Mike cried out, "I Xyz summon Constellar Hyades!"

 **[Constellar Hyades – ATK: 1900]**

"Big deal!" Damian continued to disregard Mike's moves as anything more than a bluff. He didn't want to believe his defeat was imminent.

"Oh, it's a very big deal," Mike told him, "See, I realized earlier in the duel what the weaknesses of your Vennominon were: they're in its ability to power itself up, and in its DEF, which is 0!

"And my Hyades..." Mike explained with a twinkle in his eyes, "Can detach one overlay unit in order to switch your monster into DEF mode!"

 **[Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes – DEF: 0]**

Damian scoffed. "You still can't damage me!" he reminded Mike.

"I know," Mike acknowledged, "But don't think I'm not going to before this duel is over.

"Now I activate the Double Summon spell card!" Mike continued on, "Which lets me normal summon one more monster this turn! So come on out, Constellar Acubens!"

 **[Constellar Acubens – ATK: 800]**

"And his effect," Mike explained as his grin only broadened, "Give every Constellar monster on the field 500 extra ATK points when he's summoned!"

 **[Constellar Hyades – ATK: 2400]**

 **[Constellar Acubens – ATK: 1300]**

"And now for the final card in my hand!" Mike cried out as he played it, "An old favorite of mine that I like to call Fairy Meteor Crush! By equipping this card to my Acubens, it now gains a piercing ability!"

"Say WHAT?!" Damian cried out in panic now as his eyes widened.

"You heard me!" Mike shot back, "Now, Constellar Acubens! Attack his Vennominon!"

Acubens charged forward and thrusted its hook-shaped hand into Vennominon's gullet, making it writhe before it exploded.

 **[Damian – LP: 2300]**

Damian now raised his head from behind the arm he'd braced himself with as he smiled maniacally. "And here's the part where you fail!" he cried out, "By removing another reptile monster from my graveyard, my King returns to the field once more!"

Just as he promised, Vennominon did indeed rise up from the Venom Swamp again.

 **[Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes – ATK: 4000]**

Damian chuckled to himself devilishly. "You really thought you had me?" he called out to Mike, "Looks like your plan didn't unfold how you wanted it to!"

"Wrong, actually," Mike shot back coolly, "Like I said, I found _both_ of your monsters weaknesses earlier in the duel, and I'm about to exploit its other one, too!"

Damian's eyebrows rose in surprise as Mike explained, "Your monster's ATK power only increases because of its special ability, so I'm going to take that ability away by banishing the Breakthrough Skill trap that I used earlier from my graveyard!

"And in doing so," Mike cried out, "All of your King's abilities are cancelled out, which means it has no way to power itself!"

 **[Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes – ATK: 0]**

"NO!" Damian shouted in sheer panic as he realized what this meant, "NO, THIS CAN'T HAPPEN! I CAN'T LOSE!"

"Sorry, Damian..." Mike said as he pointed to Vennominon one last time, "But this is game over! Constellar Hyades! Wipe out his King along with the rest of his LP!"

Hyades took up one of its large blades in its hands and swung it down on Vennominon, who gave one final cry before shattering into pieces for the last time.

 **[Damian – LP: 0]**

 **[Winner: Mike]**

The Venom Swamp, along with Mike's monsters vanished as the two's duel disks deactivated, while Damian fell onto his back in defeat, the pavement that he'd fallen upon knocking the wind out of him as he made contact.

Mike drew back his cufflink-cord and replaced it in his pocket before taking his own duel disk, now a revolver again, in his hand and replacing it in his holster as he then sprinted over to Damian, who was struggling to lift his right arm with the detonator in his hand.

But before Damian could do anything with it, Mike kicked it out of his hand and forced his knee into Damian's stomach, making him groan in pain as Mike unzipped the dark-green hoodie to see about his earlier bomb threat as the spectating crowd of civilians and officers watched. But to his relief, the only thing he had on him beneath his hoodie was a white t-shirt, and upon further inspection, there was absolutely no sign of any potential explosive on the rest of his person.

Now Mike looked back to the crowd of people to and cops. "The detonator's a fake," he assured everyone, "He's got no bomb or anything on him."

Upon hearing this, the four cops dashed through the crowd of people towards the two duelists as Mike stood himself up, their own pistols drawn in case Damian tried to pull any more funny business. But by the time they'd made it to him, Damian was still completely winded as they got him standing, cuffing him as two of them kept a hold on him as they read him his rights.

The third officer turned to Mike. "Damian broke out of Tallgate Prison in Crest City a few months back," he explained to him, "A real nutter, this guy. Used to pull heists like this all the time. We've been wondering whether or not he'd try to pull a stunt like this again."

"I'm more amazed that you were able to detain him until we arrived," the fourth officer inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"I just did what I could," was all Mike said, "The money he tried to steal is in that bag over there."

He pointed to the large bag lying only a few feet away from them. The third officer whistled as the second one moved to retrieve it. "Looks like he would've made off like a bandit," he realized with raised eyebrows as he felt the weight of the bag.

"Would've..." Mike repeated as the other two officers began walking Damian away back to their car, while the second one walked inside the supermarket to return the stolen cash.

But the other two officers didn't expect Damian to struggle a little as he managed to look back at Mike, glaring into his eyes with an intense hatred as hot as the fires of Hell itself must have been.

"This isn't over..." he growled in a low voice at him.

"It is for you," Mike shot back.

Damian's face lit up with a mild fury before the cops forced him forward, now almost dragging him back to their cars as the crowd of people that had gathered finally dispersed, realizing that there was nothing left to see here anymore.

Bulbous, after having watched everything play out from afar, just stood there, petrified. He couldn't believe just how horribly wrong he'd been about his daughter's crush, and how he'd punished her for telling him the truth, and sticking up for it. And that alone made him think about all the other wrongful judgments he'd made over the last two years...

He was so wrapped up in his self-realizations that he hadn't noticed Mike approaching him until he was about three feet away, and he met Mike's eyes as he asked him, "You alright?"

Bulbous could only bring himself to nod as he grinned slightly. "Yeah, I'm fine," he replied honestly, "Now that I don't have a gun shoved in my face."

Mike now shared in Bulbous's grin as the two of them made their way back into the store, retrieving their baskets of goodies before getting back into their line at the register as they spoke.

As Bulbous was paying for his own goods, he found himself glancing at Mike's basket, and his eyes widened from surprise. "Only that much, son?" he inquired confusedly.

"Rationing out the remaining cash that I have," Mike explained as he put his basket on the conveyor belt behind Bulbous's, who was now paid for and now waited for Mike, "Besides, I don't have much of an appetite nowadays. I only take what I need."

Bulbous smiled as a memory came to his mind: "I remember back when the deli was still open," he told Mike, "And you'd always come in and order two foot-long sandwiches with cheese, lettuce, ham, and turkey using whatever allowance money you got back at the orphanage."

Mike gave a small laugh as he pulled out his cash to pay, remembering this as well. "I always wanted to make sure I didn't run outta energy before the day was over..." he admitted, giving the cashier a twenty dollar bill as she made change.

Now Bulbous's attention was on the numerous twenty-dollar bills in Mike's hand. "You call that rationing out, son?" he asked with disbelief.

But Mike just nodded his head to confirm he wasn't kidding. "It's all I have to my name," he explained as he took the cashier's change, "Until I find a place to stay, I'm scraping by as best I can."

Bulbous blinked at this as the two now walked out of the store. "You don't have anywhere to stay?" he asked.

"Well, I spent the last two nights in the motel at the edge of the city," he admitted, "But I wouldn't have been able to stay for more than a few more nights, and they don't really offer room service."

"You haven't gone back to the orphanage at all?" Bulbous suggested.

"Like hell I'd want to go back there..." was Mike's resentful answer, "Besides, I'm eighteen. I'm pretty sure I've aged out of their program by now."

Bulbous looked to Mike with sympathy as they continued walking. After being saved by an old friend whom he'd thought had become a bad person, he was ready to do anything to pay him back by any means necessary. And now, there was only one way he could think of that seemed to be the perfect way to repay Mike:

"Y'know, Mike..." said Bulbous, gaining Mike's attention as a familiar, warm smile spread on his face, "I think I got somewhere for you to stay..."

* * *

Violet laid on the couch in the living room in her maroon bathrobe, with one arm slung over one edge of the couch, while the other lay across her forehead. Her breathing was deep and slow as she contemplated the events within the previous hours, replaying the chain of events in her mind: the fight she and her father had had over the phone, the way Mike had comforted her, the kiss she had finally given him, the face-to-face fight with her father, and the message she'd sent Mike with tears in her eyes before going to bed...

The only other thing on her mind was the fact that her father was _still_ gone at this hour. Surely he wasn't still out getting more junk food; any more of that in their house, and the apartment would officially become a literal junk heap.

And she had a bad feeling that their landlord would be stopping by any day to finally make good on his promise to evict them if they didn't get the place cleaned up soon, what with all the leftover food and wrappers scattered around growing mold and attracting insects into the building. Violet had tried many times to get the place cleaned on her own, but her father always brought in even _more_ food and beer to litter the place with.

It was then she finally heard voices from behind the door around the corner of the room. She ignored them out of both teenage laziness and a lack of caring, really not in the mood for if her father had brought home some guest.

But as the door opened, she couldn't believe just _whose_ voice she was hearing that was accompanying her father's:

"Thanks again for letting me stay here."

"Hey, it's no bother!"

She lifted her head up as she moved into a sitting position on the couch, wrapping her bathrobe tightly around her as she watched her dad and Mike walk in, carrying their large bags of Park 'n Shop goods together. The two of them, their faces concealed by the large paper bags, didn't see her as they passed through the living room, rounding the corner to their right as they entered the kitchen.

"I really appreciate you doing this for me, really," she heard Mike say as she got up and walked towards the kitchen slowly and silently.

"Son, my place is your place," she heard her father reply as she now leaned against the corner looking into the kitchen, watching the two loading the fridge with their goods, "Besides, it's the least I can do to repay you for gettin' that guy's gun out of my face!"

Violet's eyes widened at these words, and she immediately asked, "A _gun?_ "

Bulbous, who had been leaning into the fridge as he put his items away, jolted his head up in surprise, only to hit the back of his head on the fridge's ceiling. "OW!" he cried, followed by a couple of whispered cuss words that would have made the nun who ran Mike's old orphanage cringe.

Bulbous now shook his dizzy head before turning it to join Mike in looking at his daughter. "Violet!" he said with surprise, "I didn't realize you were up; I'm sorry!"

"It's fine, Dad..." she told him as she now walked towards him and Mike, a mixture of concern and curiosity on her face as she then inquired, "I just wanna know _why_ you had a gun in your face, if you don't mind my asking?"

Mike and Bulbous now exchanged glances for a moment before looking back at Violet, and Mike scratched the back of his head as he laughed nervously. "Do you want the short version of this story, or the long...?" he asked with a half-grin, knowing there was going to be no easy way of telling her about this morning.

* * *

Bulbous and Mike sat down with Violet and told her every detail of their early-morning encounter. At the points where they were describing the duel, Violet took short gasps whenever there was a part where it looked bad for Mike. Particularly near the end of the duel, when it looked as if Damian's King of Poisonous Snakes was about to finish Mike off, did Violet shriek with fright, but then gave the biggest sigh of relief that the two other males had ever seen come from a human being when Mike assured her that he'd managed to avoid the attack.

"Don't do that to me!" Violet shot at Mike as he started to repeatedly hit him in the arm.

"Ow, hey; hey; hey!" Mike cried out as he shielded himself from Violet's assault, "You're gonna kill me quicker than he was gonna if you keep that up!"

Violet's hits ceased, but she continued to glare at him as he laughed sheepishly. Bulbous gave a chuckle before he finally added in, "Actually, the reason Mike was able to evade that attack was thanks to that Rainbow Kuriboh card you gave him!"

Violet looked to Mike again, only now with eyes that held a mixture of shock and joy. "Wait..." she said, hardly able to say what she couldn't believe was the truth, "You still have that card...?"

"Of course," Mike assured her as he put a hand on her shoulder, "I could never part with that card. It means as much to me as you do."

Violet felt herself blushing immediately from that statement and quickly averted her eyes away from Mike, though what she didn't notice was that Mike had to look away too. He normally wasn't one for corny one-liners like that, but he couldn't help saying that. It was the truth, after all; and if Violet ever needed any more confirmation of his feelings for her, he hoped that would make the message a little clearer.

Bulbous couldn't help but roll his eyes at the two love birds. He didn't understand why they didn't just confess their love to each other right then and there; but then again, it wasn't any of his business where their relationship stood, so he resisted the urge to say anything.

Instead, Violet now turned her attention back to her father as she asked, "So, about what you were saying earlier, when you first got back... did you say Mike's gonna be _staying_ with us...?"

Bulbous nodded as he confirmed, "That's right. It's my way of paying him back for saving me today."

He looked to Mike, who flashed him an appreciative smile before Bulbous looked back to his daughter. "Also, Violet..." he started, sounding almost nervous now as he spoke, "I, uh..."

He started fidgeting with his hands as he struggled to find the right words for what he wanted to say. Mike, sensing that this was about to become a family moment, stood up from his seat at the kitchen table as he excused himself, "I think I'll sit out of this one."

Violet nodded to him while Bulbous looked into his eyes, as if trying to find the words he wanted to say to Violet in there. Mike gave him a reassuring nod, as if he was telling him: _'You can do this.'_

Bulbous took a moment to register this before nodding back to Mike, before making eye contact with his daughter again as Mike moved to the edge between the kitchen and the living room.

"Look, I've had some time to think..." he started, almost choking on his words as he struggled to get them out, "And I realize that I haven't been in my right mind for a while, now... and I wanna make things right with you.

"So now, lemme just say..." he spoke sincerely as his large hands took hold of Violet's petite ones on the table, "That I'm _really_ sorry about the fight we had last night... along with all the other ones we've had over this last year..."

Violet nodded to let her father know that she was listening intently, as Bulbous stammered, "I know I haven't been the best father to you all this time... not since I lost the deli...

"But I _promise_..." Bulbous now swore to her as the tears began to jerk themselves out of Bulbous's eyes., "I _promise_ that things are gonna get better from here on out. I'm even gonna try and get the deli back open, and start working on fixing my addictions..."

He could no longer hold back his tears now as he finished, "And I promise I won't ever treat you as badly as I have ever again!"

Tears welled in Violet's eyes now too, though they were finally ones of happiness and joy. The smile that Mike had been waiting for so long to see finally came to her face.

"Thank you, Dad..." she whispered as she got up, circling the table to hug him.

"Aw, c'mere..." Bulbous told her as he spread his arms, and the two embraced each other.

Mike couldn't help but smile himself. Nothing made him happier than seeing the girl he loved finally happy again, much less reunited with the father that she'd felt had been lost over the last year.

Now he saw Violet look up at him, still embracing her father as she mouthed to him with a big smile, _"Thank you."_

Mike simply nodded in return as he smiled back.

Soon, the father-daughter embrace ended, and Bulbous now looked to her with a fatherly gaze, "Now, I need to make one thing _extremely_ clear."

Bulbous now turned to shift his attention to Mike as he raised a stern finger to point at him. "Part of the reason I'm letting you stay with us now is 'cause I trust you as an adult. But if I _ever_ catch you sneaking into Violet's bedroom to be _alone_ with her, I can't guarantee that I'll let you stay much longer than a few seconds after that, _capiche_?"

Mike raised his hands defensively at this awkward subject as Violet went beet-red in the face. "Alright, alright..." Mike promised him, "I got it."

Bulbous lowered his hand as he turned to Violet again. "And the same goes for you too, young lady; you understand?" he inquired.

"Yes, Dad..." Violet said, averting her face to hide her embarrassment at the thought of what her father was worried about happening.

Bulbous now gave a firm nod. "Good..." he said with a more jolly tone as he now stood from the table, "Now, why don't you go show Mike to his room while I get some breakfast ready?"

Violet nodded her understanding, and moved hurriedly from the kitchen past Mike into the hallway to the right as she told him, "Follow me."

Mike did just that, following her away from the awkward negotiation they just had to sit through. He was led into a narrow hallway that was simply mapped: the farthest door at the very end of the hall led to Bulbous's room. On the left side was Violet's room, which was also accompanied by a smaller, closet door. On the right side, the bathroom door was the closest one to Bulbous's, and the one next to it was their spare room—the one that Violet led him to.

She opened the door for him, and he entered a medium-sized room with blank walls, a small, wooden bureau, and a night table to the right of a twin-sized bed. There was a small closet to the room's right side.

"I'm sorry it's not much..." Violet said as Mike walked around and took in the surroundings, "But we never use this room, so—"

"It's perfect," Mike cut her off, surprising her as he continued to gaze at the room he'd be living in for now, "Considering I've spent the last two nights in a shabby motel room, this feels like royalty."

Violet giggled at this remark as a smile adorned her face. She was glad that Mike had retained his sense of humor despite all that he'd apparently gone through. Even after getting to spend some time with him and watching him duel Danny, she had been afraid that perhaps he was too scarred to ever entirely be the same Mike that she'd loved since their childhood. But now, as she stood before him, she could tell that the boy she'd grown up with was still there, not too far gone after all.

Now Mike turned to face her as he suggested: "We might wanna get out of here before your dad starts getting uppity, huh?"

Violet nodded in vigorous agreement before the two of them exited the room, moving back to the kitchen where Bulbous was inserting a few slices of bread into his toaster. "Anybody want toast?" he offered as he looked to the two teenagers.

But before either Mike or Violet could answer, a noise interrupted them that none of the three saw coming: a knock at the front door.

"Now who would that be at this hour?" Bulbous wondered aloud with knit eyebrows.

Violet's heart was leaping up into her throat now. It might've been their landlord, wanting to see how Bulbous had failed to keep his apartment's cleanliness in check and give them their eviction notice. And at the worst time too: just when they had decided to let Mike stay with them, and now they might become as homeless as he'd been.

"I'll see who it is," Mike now offered as he approached the door, and Violet crossed her fingers. She prayed to whatever divine beings that existed that this wasn't the visit she'd been dreading.

But when Mike opened the door, he was even more surprised than Violet or Bulbous at who was standing before him:

"Mr. Copperson..." Mike addressed the suited man standing in the doorway.

"Hello, Mr. Harper," Mr. Copperson greeted, "I was hoping I would find you here."

Bulbous looked like he wished that he didn't look like a fat slob with his muffin-top belly hanging out from under his shirt in front of County Dame's mayor. Violet was still tense, if not even more so than before. Her landlord was one thing, but being personally visited by the mayor of County Dame himself was a completely different story altogether.

But Mike remained calm, cool and collect as Bulbous tried to stand behind Mike so that the Mayor wouldn't be able to see his messy disaster of an apartment as the former asked, "Is there something I can do for you, sir?" he inquired.

"Actually, I'm here about something that you _did_ ," he clarified.

Mike's, Violet's, and Bulbous's eyebrows all rose in surprise at this as Bulbous then asked: "How exactly did you know that Mike was here, sir?"

"I didn't, at first," Mr. Copperson explained, "But witnesses at the Park 'n Shop you were at earlier this morning say that they saw him walking away with you, Bulbous; so I thought it best that I come here first to ask where he was.

"But since he's here anyway, this saves me valuable time," Mr. Copperson sounded almost chipper as he now looked back to Mike.

"So you know about what happened down there earlier," Mike figured.

"Correct," Mr. Copperson confirmed, "About an hour ago, I received word that the police had managed to apprehend the escaped convict known as Damian White, whom apparently was detained from fleeing the scene of the crime by a citizen.

"And to my own surprise..." Mr. Copperson went on, "That citizen was _you_."

"I was just trying to make sure my friend's father here, as well as no one else, got hurt," Mike explained modestly as he indicated Bulbous behind him, "Nothing more to it."

Mr. Copperson saw the grateful smile spread across Bulbous's face. "Well, in any case..." County Dame's mayor said, "I decided against meeting with the board of education this morning to discuss continuing your education, and instead just present you with this myself."

Mr. Copperson now reached into his jacket, in which he pulled out a rolled up piece of paper that he handed off to Mike, who unfurled it to see what it was. But upon inspection, he found himself unable to believe his eyes as he read the fine print upon the page.

"This is..." Mike spoke confusedly, "A high school diploma..."

Violet and Bulbous went wide-eyed at this as Mr. Copperson explained, "That it is. And with it, as well as my own personal recommendation, you are now qualified to take Professional Dueling courses to prepare you for the Pro Circuit, which you'll be taking at Dexterity High at 6 PM on weekdays starting next Monday."

Mike's heart nearly stopped when he heard this information. He could only bring himself to look to Mr. Copperson with even more confusion and disbelief as he stammered out, "M-Mr. Copperson, I'm flattered, really; but I have to ask... why...?"

For the first time, Mr. Copperson actually put on a small grin. "Isn't it obvious?" he asked, "You just helped to put away an escaped convict. I'm merely expressing my thanks to you on County Dame's behalf by setting you on the path you wished to go on."

Much as Mike still couldn't take in the reality of the situation, Bulbous and Violet were even more flabbergasted. Neither of them had known that Mike had already had some kind of prior discussion with County Dame's Mayor about continuing his education, which was an absurd enough thought all on its own. Bulbous and Violet both knew how boring school was to Mike back in the day, so the idea of him even attempting to try and go back to it again seemed next to impossible.

Mike, meanwhile, didn't know what else to say to County Dame's mayor except, "Thank you, Mr. Copperson; really..."

Mr. Copperson now extended his hand, which Mike took gratefully as he replied, "Just don't make me regret going to all this trouble for you, okay?"

Mike only chuckled at this remark. "Don't worry; I won't," Mike promised him.

And with that, Mr. Copperson turned on his heel and began walking away, while Mike shut the door behind him as he turned to meet Violet's and Bulbous's still-shocked stares.

"You're gonna be taking _nightly_ courses...?!" Violet exclaimed at him, her tone of voice a mixture of both excitement and disbelief.

"To get into the Pro Dueling Circuit, no less!" Bulbous added brightly.

Mike could only bring himself to nod, though the expression on his face suggested that he too still couldn't believe what had just happened. "I guess so..." Mike figured, "The day that I came back, I actually went to go talk to Dr. Crawford _after_ my duel with Josiah, asking him if I could continue my classes at night so I could graduate and be ready for the real world."

Violet's eyes widened in realization as Mike continued, "And then last night, he asked me to come back so I could talk with Mr. Copperson about my request, and what I wanted to do after I graduated."

Mike now turned to Violet as he explained to her, "That's where I had to go after I dropped you off last night."

Violet could hardly believe what she was hearing. Despite how much Mike had loathed school and its dullness, he had still taken the initiative to find a way to continue it at any cost—a trait that she couldn't help but feel _more_ attracted to him for.

Now Bulbous went to Mike's side and patted him on the back as he told him, "Well this is even better, son! Now as long as you practice and study hard, you'll be able to get into that Pro Circuit in no time!"

Mike opened his mouth to say something in reply to that, but what came out instead was as much of a surprise to him as it was to the two Alyssums in the room with him: a great, big yawn from the tiredness he'd had after having not been able to sleep the previous night.

He looked to Violet and Bulbous drowsily as he muttered, "Huh; I'm more tired than I thought..."

Violet giggled slightly at this as Bulbous agreed, "Hey, after the morning you've had already, I don't blame ya. Maybe you oughta take a quick nap; the toast can wait."

Mike's form of agreement with that suggestion was another deep yawn. "Well, I'll see you when I wake up, then..." he said as he made his way to his new room, "Good night... or, morning, or... ah, never mind."

Violet could only giggle a little at this before replying, "Sleep well, sleepyhead."

Mike nodded to her half-consciously before making his way to his new bedroom, and closing the door behind him as Violet let out a content sigh. Her life was becoming like a fairy tale to her now, and she didn't want it to end.

* * *

 _ **\- FLASHBACK -**_

Mike spent the next two days training relentlessly at Aeron's demand. The deathly-feeling man spent a lot of time showing Mike how to best utilize his deck so as to be able to play better moves and initiate combos Mike had never even thought of before. He even taught Mike the deeper mechanics of the game, such as spell speeds, chain resolutions, and summon-response windows.

During the evenings, Aeron would bring Mike back into Frontier Haven and leave him at Samael's place, where the latter would give Mike food and water, as well as allow him to sleep on the same, undecorated cot that Mike had first awoken on after collapsing. In the morning, he would find himself awakened at 6 AM for the next two days by Aeron, who would arrive at Samael's shack to shake him until he was awake. He was then allowed to eat a bread-and-water breakfast, which was also left to him by Samael before he departed into the town for his own business.

Despite how badly Samael had crushed Mike's spirit by destroying all hope of him eventually getting home, he could at least appreciate the fact that Samael was being at least a little hospitable.

Aeron would then bring Mike back out past the border of Frontier Haven, where the two of them would duel continuously over and over again. Each time, Aeron tried to introduce a new ruling or tip to Mike so as to help improve his skills, which he would then try to utilize in the next duel. And Mike never fell short of Aeron's expectations: he nearly always found a way to use what he had learned previously in the next duel, and would come that much closer to winning. But despite this, Mike always found himself coming up short against his trainer, losing every single time that they played.

Near the end of the second day, Mike found himself falling onto his rear end out of exhaustion as the latest duel between him and Aeron had reached its conclusion. Dueling repeatedly in the middle of the desert in 100°F heat was something he never thought he'd have to get used to in his lifetime; but thankfully, the sun was setting now, which made it at least a little bit cooler.

Aeron now approached Mike from where he'd stood during their duel. "You've gotten a lot stronger over the last couple of days," he said matter-of-factly.

Mike spat what tasted like grains of sand out of his mouth. "Yeah?" he replied, exasperation evident in his voice, "Then why is it that I _still_ can't beat you after all this time?"

"Because you're still not relying on your own will to win."

Mike shifted himself to look as Samael now approached him and Aeron, a serious expression adorning his face as he walked.

"Samael," Aeron acknowledged his boss, who nodded in response before looking down at Mike.

"You," he said, "Take a five minute break."

Mike's eyebrows arched in surprise at this, but his expression quickly returned to one of annoyance as he stood himself up, and began pacing away from the two of them. He hated the fact that he knew they were more than likely going to be talking about him, but as he was powerless to try and fight against whatever fate they would end up bringing him to, he forced himself to keep his mind off of it.

Meanwhile, now Samael and Aeron stood shoulder-to-shoulder with their backs turned away from Mike as they looked out into the desert. "Report?" Samael asked, not wanting to beat around the bush for the information he wanted.

"He's actually become much stronger since his start," Aeron explained, "He picks up on new strategies quick, and is able to exploit the game's rules to his advantage."

"Is that right...?" Samael inquired with a glance towards Aeron, who met his stare with his own steely one as Samael pressed on, "So with all of this new, unlocked potential, do you think he's ready to face Keir?"

Aeron glanced to his boss sharply. "You once said that the day I met my match would be the day that you'd know Keir's reign over us would end..." he recalled.

"That I did..." Samael remembered as he looked out to the sands of the desert, "And yet, despite that, I have such a strong feeling about this boy—"

"Mike."

Samael turned to his subordinate with bewilderment on his face as Aeron clarified sternly: "He's not just some boy. His name is Mike."

Samael took a moment to take in how his right-hand man had just cut him off, but in the end only scoffed. "Don't tell me you've started to care for him, Aeron?" he questioned, "You've never been one to grow attached."

Aeron remained silent as he turned away, ignoring Samael's inquisitive stare. The latter eventually chuckled before saying, "You haven't forgotten what I told you about emotions and attachment, have you?"

"They lead to weakness," Aeron recited what Samael had taught him long ago, "And weakness leads to death."

"Right," Samael confirmed, a small smile coming to his face that his right-hand man hadn't forgotten.

Now Samael turned to look at Mike, who was standing a good distance away from them as he gazed out into the desert, as if hoping that he was looking in the direction of where he needed to go to return home.

"You know why he hasn't reached his full potential; don't you, Aeron?" Samael now turned to Aeron again as he asked.

Aeron turned to face him with his emotionless expression, though there was a slightly raised eyebrow that hinted confusion.

"He's still homesick," Samael explained simply, "Which means that he needs the last thing that reminds him of his home taken away."

Aeron's eyes narrowed. "What're you saying...?" he asked.

"I'm saying that he has to part ways with his current deck," Samael stated.

"But that's all he's been practicing with," Aeron argued as he shifted to stand face-to-face with Samael, "And the duel is tomorrow. You expect him to walk into that duel with Keir, using a different deck he hasn't practiced with at all, and _still_ win?"

Samael did not answer immediately. Instead, he turned his back to Aeron as he spoke, "If my feelings about that boy are correct, and he's become as good of a duelist as you've claimed, then he should be able to pull through tomorrow; even with a new deck. "

"And what makes you so certain of that?" Aeron demanded to know.

He couldn't see Samael crack a small smile before he started walking back towards Frontier Haven, saying as he did so: "Call it an instinct."

Aeron said not another word as he watched Samael walk back into town, realizing that there was no changing his mind. He then shifted his head to look towards Mike, who was still looking out into the desert. And for the first time in his life, Aeron's heart felt heavy—not because he felt bad for what Mike was about to be put through, but because he knew there was only _one deck_ that he would be able to give Mike to use the next day...

 _ **\- FLASHBACK END -**_

* * *

 **Next Time**

 **Chapter 6: "Questions"**

* * *

 ** _\- Last Revised: May 2, 2017 -_**


	6. Questions

**Yu-Gi-Oh! Mark of Death**

 **Chapter 6: "Questions"**

 **Opening Theme: "Raining" by Art Of Dying**

 **Ending Theme: "Behind Blue Eyes" by Limp Bizkit**

* * *

The next two weeks went by peacefully for Mike, much to his gratitude. Bulbous had no problem with him doing whatever he wanted, considering Mike spent most of his time out of the apartment and in the city. During the weekdays, Violet was in school with Danny and Marina, and it was a mystery to all of them just what Mike was doing before he always met them in the construction yard after school every day.

They did, however, know how Mike was spending his weeknights: the nightly Pro Dueling classes that Mr. Copperson had arranged for him to get into the Pro Circuit started the week after Mike had moved in with Violet. Dr. Crawford had personally found and hired the best personal tutors he could find for the job, and as soon as Mike had started, he was breezing through all of his new classes with flying colors.

Meanwhile, Dexterity High had also not seen or heard word of Josiah Sullivan since his defeat at Mike's hands. It was a known fact that Josiah—being so much older than everyone else—lived on his own in his deceased grandmother's house. But his absence was pushing the board of education closer to the point they would eventually have to push for his expulsion, and the fact that he wasn't answering his phone or even his door was a concerning one. If Josiah _was_ home, it was clear that he wasn't up for seeing anyone anytime soon.

As far as life outside of school was concerned, Bulbous had followed through with his promise to Violet: after Mike had joined them in their apartment, he had immediately gone back to being the kind-hearted, loving father that Violet had missed for the last two years. He even managed to clean up the apartment so well that she and Mike could see the floor in the living room again. He'd cleaned the place up so well that, when the landlord finally came to inspect the apartment, he was too stunned to even care about Bulbous taking in Mike to live with him without his permission.

And speaking of Mike... he found it difficult to become adjusted to the social norms of County Dame life again. Though he took sleeping in a normal bed extremely easy; he was more than grateful to be able to sleep comfortably again. But he couldn't shake the habit of waking up super early all the time, resulting in Violet and Bulbous always waking up to find Mike dressed and finishing up his breakfast every day. And despite his insistence of not wanting to take from Bulbous's fridge, Violet's father made sure that he adjusted to eating full-fledged meals again.

Violet even had a hard time getting him to dress in something other than his beat-up duster. It took a lot of convincing, but she was eventually able to get Mike to go shopping for some new clothes. When they'd walked out of the store that day, he'd exited wearing a black, short-sleeved jacket over a black t-shirt, and a black armband at the top of his left forearm. His bottom half was accustomed with dark jeans held up with a brown double-buckled belt, and black and blue sneakers.

But what Mike especially found hard to let go of was the feeling that he needed to carry his revolver-shaped duel disk around everywhere he went. The paranoia that he'd developed over the last two years was beyond anything Violet had ever seen. But even after she'd convinced him to get a new one, he refused to buy any duel disk available on the general market, and instead came home late one night after spending a whole Saturday out on his own with a custom-made duel disk that he'd built himself:

While deactivated, it was a thin, oval-shaped disk with a dark gray and black color scheme, and a navy blue jewel in its center. The similarly-colored blades that fanned out for the monster, spell and trap card zones shot out from the center as one piece of metal where his graveyard sat, much like how his revolver-duel disk functioned.

"Where'd you find that contraption?" Bulbous had asked with eyes wide in amazement.

"I made it from some scrap parts I found in a junkyard," Mike explained after having shown it off to Violet and her father, "I learned a thing or two about duel disk construction while I was away."

Violet was more than amazed or impressed. Wherever Mike had been for the last two years, he hadn't just upped his game as a duelist—he had gained skills Violet would never have dreamed of him having.

And of course, above all else, Violet was always more than giddy with the fact that she was living with the boy she loved. Though Mike seemed to have more interest in activities out in the city, meaning that aside from after school and late nighttime, Violet never really saw Mike as much as she thought she would. And when she did, he usually either locked himself in his room or headed right out the door again.

But she was sympathetic: Mike had been gone for two years, and he probably still needed some time on his own to get his life back on track. And she didn't mind seeing him only every so often, as long as she did from time to time. She needed to focus on her grades so she would be able to graduate, anyway.

Nevertheless, Violet felt like a princess living in a fantasy that she couldn't believe had come true. But she would soon learn that, like every fantasy, it wasn't going to last forever.

* * *

Mike slid his way through the apartment door one late night, cracking the door only just enough so it didn't creak to let everyone else sleep. He'd spent some time wandering around County Dame after his evening classes that Friday night, so by then it was close to 1 AM.

He didn't see Violet through the darkness as he gently closed the apartment door, watching him from the hallway in her maroon bathrobe. She couldn't help herself—she felt almost as if she _needed_ to wait for Mike to come home, and tonight she wanted to greet him from a late night out, and get them alone so that they could just be together. Perhaps she could even get a chance to admit her feelings for him, if that kiss she had planted on his cheek hadn't given them away already.

But unfortunately, she wasn't so lucky: just as she was about to step out so Mike could see her, she halted as she heard Mike's pocket start to vibrate. She couldn't see Mike's face go from casual to serious through the darkness as he took it out, and quickly opened the apartment door to step outside again.

As the door shut behind him, Violet now snuck up to it and pressed her ear gently against it as she eavesdropped:

"Who are you, and how did you get this number?"

She was surprised—and a little scared—by his tone: it had suddenly become dark and gruff; reminiscent of how the way he'd spoken to Josiah the day he had returned. Only this sounded a little more intense—as if Mike was afraid of who it might've been on the other end. Her own heart began to beat fast, fearing that Mike might've been in some kind of danger.

But she was able to relax when she heard his tone return to normal; though it still retained a sense of seriousness:

"Glad to know you're alright.

"... I know; I'm sorry. We were compromised."

Violet could almost _feel_ the shame that was in Mike's voice as he said those words. But nothing could've prepared her for the next words that she heard come out of his mouth:

"... she didn't make it. Some guys that you must have missed took her."

Violet's heart immediately sank. She had no idea who or what Mike was talking about, but just hearing him talk about another _girl_ made her boil inside—a jealousy she couldn't control.

Mike's tone suddenly shifted into one of interest now: "What do you mean?

"... yeah."

"... wait, are you serious...?"

There was a long pause before Mike spoke again. Whoever he was talking to must have been explaining quite a lot to him. But the whole time she was waiting to hear his voice again, her heart wouldn't stop trying to pound its way out of her rib cage. She was petrified at the sudden thought that, perhaps, he actually _had_ met someone else while he'd been away for the last two years...

"... what's going on? Hello? Hello?!"

Now there was as much adrenaline in Mike's panicked, shaking voice as there was in Violet's heartbeat. She'd only ever heard him talk with that tremble in his voice once before: when she had seen him directly after the death of his parents.

Violet couldn't take anymore listening now. A mixture of jealousy towards whoever the girl Mike had mentioned was, as well as the pain she felt from hearing the grief in Mike's voice was too much for her fragile heart to handle. She snuck away from the door back to her room, throwing herself onto her bed as she silently sobbed into her pillow.

The last two minutes had just killed her fairy tale dream.

* * *

It wasn't long before Violet finally fell asleep. The hours passed quickly as night soon turned to day, and the sun arose over County Dame once more. The Saturday morning light didn't disturb anyone in Bulbous's apartment, considering the fact that there were few windows for it to pour through, allowing its tenants to sleep peacefully.

But there was one amongst them that had already been awake since 7 AM: Mike was dressed and ready to leave, however his choice of attire was much different than what he normally adorned:

From Bulbous's closet, he had managed to find a tan overcoat that had used to fit Bulbous, yet fit him just fine. He'd pulled his long hair back in a short ponytail, and his hands were now covered with black leather gloves. He wore Bulbous's tan fedora to match the coat, and sunglasses to conceal his eyes.

It was the most uncharacteristic look for him, which made it the perfect disguise. And for what he was about to do today, he had a feeling he'd need it.

Before he stepped out, however, he took a paper from the small pad Bulbous kept on the kitchen table and scribbled a quick note to make sure the Alyssums didn't freak out about his missing presence:

 ** _Will be gone for the day. Don't know when I'll be back._**

 ** _\- Mike_**

He left it in plain sight on the kitchen table before walking out the door.

* * *

It was an hour later after Mike had left before Bulbous walked out from his bedroom door to the small kitchen, dressed in his green robe that just barely wrapped around his large belly. He drowsily stumbled to the refrigerator, not noticing the note as he walked by it in his quest to attain milk for a bowl of Cocoa Puffs.

It was only when he made to put his milk on the table when he finally noticed the small paper with Mike's handwriting on it. Pushing the thought of Cocoa Puffs from his mind, he picked up the note and groggily read through it as Violet finally emerged from her room as well, tired from her troubled sleep; or rather lack thereof.

But Bulbous didn't even notice his daughter's fatigue as he heard her walk into the kitchen. "Guess Mike's gonna be out for the day," he told his daughter through a loud yawn.

She tiredly took grasp of the paper from her father's hands and looked it over. Instantly, all feelings of exhaustion that she felt before disappeared as her heart skipped a beat, remembering Mike's phone call only hours before.

Bulbous finally took notice of the alarm on his daughter's face as he set his chocolaty cereal down on the table. "Something wrong, Angel?" he asked, his tone of voice making it clear he didn't realize how dire his daughter's panic had become.

But Violet just shook her head, not wanting to worry her father. "Nothing," she replied quickly, now slowly stepping out of the small kitchen back into the hallway, from where she then rushed back into her room.

She threw herself on her bed, holding back even more tears than she'd already shed as she took her cell phone from her bedside table, pulling up Danny's contact and dialing it.

She sat listening through three rings before Danny finally picked up, in the middle of a lazy yawn. "Do you _know_ what time it is, Violet?" he groaned drowsily, clearly annoyed by being awoken at such an early hour.

"Yeah, and we have bigger problems than your lack of extra sleep," she shot back.

Danny picked up on her urgent tone as he got serious too: "What're you talking about?" he asked, still groggy.

"It's Mike," Violet explained hurriedly, "I think his last two years are about to catch up to him."

* * *

 ** _\- FLASHBACK -_**

Mike awoke on the third day feeling like a huge weight was pushing into his chest.

He'd been pushing the painful truth that he might die on this day out of his mind for the time he'd been training with Aeron, to try and keep his fear from preventing him to focus on becoming stronger. But as he forced himself to sit up from Samael's cot, he felt like the truth he'd been ignoring for the last two days was finally beginning to hammer down on him, making his whole body heavier.

But he forced the thought out of his mind once more. There would be time to worry about it when he actually got to that point. He stood himself up from the cot and grabbed his revolver-shaped duel disk in its holster from his bedside table, strapping it to his left arm before walking out the door of the small shack.

When he stepped outside, he found that nearly the entirety of the town was out and about, chattering amongst themselves. It was the most crowded he'd ever seen the small town; he was surprised by how many people the streets could actually hold. Some of them were wearing knapsacks, looking as thought they were ready for travelling.

It was then that Mike remembered that this Keir he was going to be facing lived in another town along with his gang, the "Romans." He wondered if the knapsacks that these people were wearing were for the travel that was ahead of them.

"You look tired."

Mike was only mildly startled from his lack of energy when he suddenly heard the female voice. He turned to his left to see where it had originated from:

The girl couldn't have been much older than he was. Her hair was a little past shoulder-length and colored the darkest shade of distinguishable brown he'd ever seen, and her eyes matched this color. She was dressed in a plaid, navy-blue shirt with rolled up sleeves, and jean shorts of the same shade of color. Her arms were decorated with differently-colored bands, and her hips adorned the same holster-belt that Mike now wore as well to hold her revolver-shaped duel disk. She stood at 5'9".

Her brown orbs stared into his ocean blue ones with a kind of curiosity that Mike couldn't put a finger on how to describe. Her smile was somewhat of a half-smile, as if she didn't exactly know what to think of him either.

Mike scratched the back of his head as he said, "I guess that's the word it... though I think 'terrified' is a little more accurate right now."

The girl moved from her side of the small porch that they were standing on over to Mike's right, leaning against the wooden fence as she looked out to the crowded town before them.

Mike couldn't help but take notice of how awfully close she was to him. She seemed to have taken some kind of interest in him, and wanted to be close by so as to not miss anything he did.

But at this point, all he could do was just look at her face, now having taken an interest in her as well. There was just something about her that had him transfixed—not so much her physical beauty, but something else he couldn't identify.

He pulled his gaze away from her as his eyes now returned to the crowd as well. And then it hit him to try asking the big question that had been bugging him for the last few days:

"What's the point of all this?" he blurted out, making the girl's eyes dart back to him now as he continued, "I mean, what's the point of all the continual fighting? I feel like I've been training for a battle with no real meaning."

What little smile the girl had on her face seemed to disappear as she looked back at the crowd for another moment. Then her eyes traveled to her left arm, where she slid one of the armbands she wore down to reveal that the same exact X-shaped scar that he had was embedded in her flesh too.

" _This_ is why we do it." The girl locked eyes with him as she spoke; a seriousness in her voice that made him believe she knew exactly what she was talking about.

The girl pulled her armband back up now to cover her scar as she looked back to the crowd. "If Samael hasn't explained it to you," she said grimly, "The reason this thing's called the 'Mark of Death' is because that's _exactly_ what it brings to the people who bear it: death. Either to its bearer, or to the ones around them."

Mike stared down at the spot on his arm where his own Mark was, with a new kind of loathing. If the words that this girl was saying were true, then perhaps this Mark was the reason why his life had played out the way it had; the reason why he had lost his parents...

"All of the people in this town," the girl now looked out to the people of Frontier Haven, "These people _all_ have that same Mark. The same goes for Keir and all of his followers."

"That still doesn't explain why this Keir guy is threatening to kill us all if we refused to duel," he pointed out.

The girl now closed her eyes as she took in a long breath. "It's Samael's belief," she finally explained, "That by bringing all of the Mark-bearers into one singular place, we can save the rest of the world the trouble of having people like us among them, threatening their lives with our curse. This way, we're only threatening the lives of others like ourselves, while the innocent are put out of harm's way.

"But Keir..." her eyes shot open as her brows knit, "He thinks the only way to save the world is to eliminate all traces of the Mark from the world completely. That's why he forces his people to fight ours; to wipe each other out. And even if he were to succeed in killing all of us in Frontier Haven, he would just turn those in his own town against each other and force them to fight to the death, too. "

Mike was stunned silent. So the real reason behind Samael bringing Mike to Frontier Haven wasn't just because he was looking for someone to overthrow Keir and keep him trapped there, but because he was trying to save the rest of the world from the deathly effects of the Mark... and this "Keir" character would rather kill off all of the Mark-bearers rather than at least let them try to have their own lives.

But it still didn't sit right in Mike's mind: "We shouldn't need to live like this," he figured aloud, making the girl raise her eyebrows as Mike looked back to the crowd before him as well, "I mean, are _we_ not innocent too? It's not like we asked to have these Marks..."

Mike's locked eyes with her again. "Do we all really have to live like this just 'cause a cut on our arm is 'controlling' our lives and the lives of others?" he reasoned.

The girl broke eye contact with Mike as he looked back out into the town, letting out a heavy sigh as Mike waited for a response.

Finally, she said, "I've had that same thought myself... but the rest of these people here; they all know what their Marks are capable of. They've left behind family, friends, and homes to protect them from their curse. At least here, they feel like their lives mean something."

"By gathering all in one place just to die 'protecting' the rest of humanity?" Mike questioned, making her look to him again, "That's not a meaningful life. That's suicide."

Now the girl was completely transfixed by Mike as she gazed into his eyes, her own ones filling with surprise at Mike's words. But she eventually just gave a small chuckle as a smile came to her face, which brought a look of confusion to Mike's.

"No wonder Samael believes so strongly that you can defeat Keir," she figured as she stood upright, "You really _are_ something else."

Mike's eyebrows arched, before he then heard a nearby voice say, "Hope we're not interrupting anything."

His and the girl's heads swiveled to see where the voice had come from: they hadn't noticed Samael and Aeron approaching them from the crowded town as they stepped onto the small shack's deck.

"Samael," the girl greeted her town's leader with a courteous bow.

Samael nodded to her, and she looked back up as he turned his attention to Mike. "We're about to head out," he told him, "You feel ready?"

Mike gave a stiff nod. In truth, he still felt like he was woefully unprepared for this duel, no matter how much stronger he'd gotten over the last few days.

Now Samael turned to face the town. "People of Frontier Haven!" he cried out, making everyone turn to look as their leader spoke, "It's time! We march to Saddleburry!"

And with that, he stepped down from his porch and made for the left side of town from there, the rest of the townspeople following suit as the chatter among them resumed.

Mike now looked to Aeron, whose eyes had remained on Samael throughout that entire time. The deathly-feeling man then turned to lock eyes with Mike, who was surprised to see what looked like sympathy in his crimson orbs before he turned to join the rest of the crowd as they walked out of town.

He then felt the girl brush past him as she moved to join the crowd, and he unwillingly followed suit. He joined the lineup next to the girl, who looked to him almost apologetically, as though she knew what he was feeling right now. And he figured that she probably did: she too must have once been in the same position as he was now, feeling the same way about having to fight for her life for the first time.

"By the way, what's your name?"

Mike broke out of his own thoughts to face the girl who had addressed him as they walked. "It's Mike," he introduced himself, "Mike Harper."

"Cassandra Maretta," she returned with a small smile, "You can call me Casey."

The two broke eye contact as Mike focused back on following the flow of the crowd. Only now was it _really_ beginning to sink in that he was either marching to win back the freedom of everyone around him, or to his death...

 ** _\- FLASHBACK END -_**

* * *

A slight breeze made the bottom of Mike's coat flail behind him as he walked down the alley in County Dame's downtown slums.

He came to a stop in front of a small, rickety brick building. The only entryway inside that he could see was an archway leading down stone steps to somewhere below the old structure, which was the path that he took.

He walked through the door at the bottom of the stairs to enter a large, wood-paneled room. The walls were aligned with glow-up signs advertising different beers and sports teams. The main floor was filled with circular tables surrounded by wooden chairs, while one corner was occupied with a few tabletop games like billiards. A polished bar with at least a hundred different types of alcohol behind it clung to the opposite wall, where the old barkeeper behind it was watching as four muscle-shirted men with either bearded faces or bald heads threw either punches or each other around drunkenly in the game corner.

Though Mike looked completely out of place, at least no one could pin him for looking only 18 thanks to his disguise. He didn't need that happening because the person he was looking for was that bartender, and he was the only one who knew the information he sought.

He kept his tan coat wrapped tightly around him as he walked up to the bar, the old man behind it paying him no mind as he watched the other men fighting in the background while cleaning a mug.

Though his wrinkled face and dark eyes showed his age, the black color of the bartender's hair that circled around his bald head barely had any gray in it whatsoever. He was dressed in a short-sleeved, white-collared shirt with a black vest over it, and black pants—a typical bartending outfit. He stood at approximately 6'0".

He finally took notice of Mike's disguised presence as he seated himself. "Tch, finally..." he muttered in his low, creaky voice, "Someone who isn't here just to put their dukes up."

"Violence like that is meaningless to me," Mike replied, disguising his own voice by lowering his pitch to sound more like an adult's.

The bartender put the mug down as he now made his way to stand before Mike, looking into his glasses. "What would you like?" he offered, "We've got the best selection of booze in town, including some 'exotic stuff,' if you know what I mean."

"Information," Mike answered, not wanting to waste any more time than he needed to.

Now the old man's face scrunched up as he gave some kind of an evil grin. "I should've' guessed," he replied as he pulled up his own small stool and sat on it, "No one walks in here with a getup like that unless they want info that they shouldn't have."

He gestured at Mike's unfashionable appearance with his hand, but Mike paid it no mind: "Adam Marker, you're the only man who know everything about everyone in every honest or criminal organization in this city."

"That I am," the old man named Adam confirmed as his arms rested on top of the bar, "What of it?"

"I'm looking for someone," Mike explained, "But all I have is a name."

"Well, a name can get you pretty far," said Adam, "But information like that comes at a price."

"Name it," Mike challenged.

Adam smirked at this. "I like your attitude," he told him, "You're lucky, or else I'd have you playing a hired gun as the price."

"I need to find this person fast," Mike stressed, urgency slipping into his voice to let the old bartender know just how serious this was, "I've already spent half of today trying to track you down alone."

Adam was twiddling his thumbs on his bar as he listened, the wild sound of the action behind them now seemingly distant from their conversation. "Well, the importunity of your needing to find this someone has not fallen on deaf ears," Adam assured him, "What's the name?"

"Louis Costanzo," Mike finally said.

"Louis Costanzo..." he repeated pensively, closing his eyes for a moment before remembering, "Yeah, I know the guy. Kind of a shady character, that one; but I know him."

"Can you tell me where he is?" Mike inquired.

"Well, that depends," was Adam's answer, "How long do you have to find him, exactly?"

"Today," Mike lied. The reality was that he had all the time in the world to find this guy, but he didn't have all the time in the world to find _her_ , who could've been dead by now for all he knew.

Adam raised a hand to his stubbly chin, cupping it as he thought of a way that this stranger might be able to earn Louis Costanzo's whereabouts. Mike sat in silence, waiting to hear what Adam's price would be. He hoped that this wouldn't come to a point where he'd have to start making threats to get the information he needed; but if push came to shove, his revolver-duel disk was concealed in its holster beneath his coat.

Finally, Adam moved the hand that had been holding his chin up to point at the four bulky men at the other side of the bar, still fighting each other.

"Get rid of those guys," he said, a quizzical look on his face as he stared at Mike, wondering whether or not the shady character in front of him would be able to do so or not, "They started showing up here a few days ago; they get so riled up that they drive away all my other customers. Never leave until their wives call 'em home."

Mike slightly turned his head so that the fighting men were within his peripheral vision, Adam couldn't tell what was going through his head, much less whether or not he would accept the request or not.

But he got his confirmation when Mike stood from his bar stool, and turned to face the four grown men throwing each other around drunkenly as he made his way towards them.

Mike stopped a good distance away from them before politely addressing them: "Hello, there."

One man just finished slamming another into a table before turning his head to face Mike, as did the other two who had been throwing punches. The one who had just been table-slammed looked as well as he got back on his feet.

The one who had thrown the one just standing again stepped forward. His bald, rounded head was wrinkled with age, and his black mustache matched the small black beard on his chin. His overall physical presence alone made it clear to Mike that he was the ringleader.

"The hell do you want, Overcoat?" he shot back rudely, clearly irritated just by being approached.

"Skipping the formalities, I see," Mike observed, "Then I'll do the same: my friend and I are trying to have a nice chat over here, and you and your friends are just too damn loud."

Mike pointed over his shoulder to Adam as he spoke, who was watching and assessing the situation closely.

The muscled man didn't seem too disgruntled. "I missed the part where that was my problem," he spat.

"Because it's about to get you kicked out of this bar," Mike explained simply.

The ringleader and his three other thugs just burst into laughter at this retort. "On what authority... do you have the right... to kick us from the old geezer's bar?" he demanded between bursts of laughter.

"I have it on the authority given to me by 'the old geezer' himself," Mike answered coldly, his patience running thin.

The ringleader's lips curled into a smile as the laughter ceased. "You realize we could easily snap that frail old man anytime we wanted?" he said threateningly.

"You could, yes," Mike agreed, "And I'm sure that the police would love to throw you thugs in prison if you tried."

Now the man's fists clenched as he realized the coated stranger was right, while Mike continued: "But you all seem to be men of sport, since you four throw each other around quite a bit. So what say we settle this with a duel?"

The muscle-shirted man's eyebrows rose at this proposal, and his hands relaxed their grip. "Alright," he growled, "Name your terms."

"The four of you versus me," Mike explained, "You four will share 8000 LP while I'll have my own 8000. No one attacks on their first turns. The turn order will go me, you and your friends, and then the cycle repeats. You'll all share the same field, which means you'll all be able to utilize whatever cards that your partners have set or activated. Sound fair?"

The ringleader's smile broadened at the coated stranger's apparent stupidity. "You're saying you'd give us four turns to get ready to kick your ass while you get only two to defend against that?" he asked incredulously.

"Unless you would rather I tip the rules more in my favor," Mike offered, "Either way: when you lose, you're not to set foot in this bar again."

The ringleader turned to his other three companions, who were all sharing his devious smile. They knew the odds were stacked in their favor, and they couldn't write this challenge off as more than a joke.

The ringleader now looked back to Mike as he said, "Okay, Overcoat; we accept."

* * *

Violet stood with arms crossed as she bounced on her heels nervously in front of the old trailer.

Danny and Marina would arrive soon, but now she was realizing that she didn't know just what exactly they were gonna do regarding her thoughts on Mike's note clenched tightly in her hand. There really wasn't much she _could_ do as it was: she had no idea where Mike had gone, and she knew absolutely nothing about his last two years since he was reluctant to share.

She was beginning to think that her mind might've told her to call out to them because she was frantic, and desperately just needed her friends for comfort. But at the same time, she wanted to get down to what the note—along with Mike's phone call the previous night—meant. But she had a bad feeling that, whatever the three of them came up, with would be everything _but_ comforting to her.

Violet was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed Danny and Marina walking towards her from the fenced gate's entrance. Danny had his skateboard tucked underneath his arm, like always, and his duel disk strapped to his arm.

"Hey, thanks for coming," Violet said as the two came to a stop in front of her.

Danny's and Marina's eyes were both serious as they met Violet's. "Let's not waste time," Danny said seriously, "What's the deal with Mike?"

Violet opened her mouth to speak, but then realized she couldn't find her voice. The anxiety she felt was like the day she found out that Mike had disappeared—a feeling she had seriously hoped would never return to her.

She finally found her voice again as she explained: "Well... last night, Mike got this call that I overheard..."

Danny and Marina exchanged concerned glances before looking back to Violet, each of them thinking the same thing: "Maybe we should take this in the trailer..." Marina suggested, "Sounds like we have a lot to talk about."

* * *

The sunlight was dim over the slums of County Dame, with the sun above them veiled by the multitude of clouds above.

Adam took this observation in as he looked up to the sky, before looking back to the main street in front of him outside of his bar's building, where the four muscle-shirted men who he usually cleaned up after were standing side by side ten feet away from the coated stranger he had just met.

He didn't know what he was expecting: the coated man had set a very serious handicap for himself. Facing off against four other men while he was the only one who got to make one turn per each of their turns put him at a major disadvantage. But with the way he was so confident that he would win, maybe this stranger _did_ have something powerful up his sleeve... it was either that, or he was all talk and was basically committing suicide.

But beneath the tan coat, hat, and glasses, Mike was actually breaking a sweat. His duel against Damian White had brought back to him a paranoia that he hadn't felt since his days in Frontier Haven. He loathed the fact he had walked into that duel so cocky only to find himself nearly overpowered, and he didn't want to make that same mistake again.

So if these four men had any skill to them, Mike would have to be on his guard in case he was faced with something difficult to take down.

The four men's mustached ringleader now called out to him, "You ready, punk?"

Mike was silent as he extended his left arm, revealing his new, custom-built duel disk as the sleeve fell back on his arm. The disk protruded a small sheet of curved metal that was his graveyard from it, which then protruded five blades that were his monster, spell and trap card zones.

The four men took his hint: they held out their left arms as their own duel disks came to life, and the five of them each drew five cards.

"LET'S DUEL!" was cried between them all.

 **[Mike – LP: 8000]**

 **[Bar Thugs – LP: 8000]**

"As we agreed, I'll be taking the first move," Mike declared, "I draw!"

He scanned his hand as a wave of nostalgia came over him. It had been forever since he had played with this old, childhood deck of his, and he felt more than ready to give it another spin.

"I'll set one monster in DEF mode," Mike decided, "And with one set card, I end my turn."

Until he came up with a plan, he had to play it safe. He didn't know what he was facing off against yet, and needed to feel the situation out.

"Then it's my move!" the man furthest to the right of Mike cried out. This man was a little shorter than the rest, with a brown Mohawk and big eyes.

"I'll begin by summoning my V-Tiger Jet!" the man began.

 **[V-Tiger Jet – ATK: 1600]**

"And to top it off, I'll play one card face down!" the Mohawked man concluded as he set a card, "And that's it for me!"

"My turn, then!" the second man, who was completely shaved both on his head and face, "And I'll summon my W-Wing Catapult!"

 **[W-Wing Catapult – ATK: 1300]**

"And then I'll combine him with V-Tiger Jet!" he cried out as now the two machines joined together, the Tiger Jet attaching itself to the top of the Wing Catapult, "Together, they make the VW-Tiger Catapult!"

 **[VW-Tiger Catapult – ATK: 2000]**

Mike's jaw clenched. _'The V-to-Z archetype...'_ he realized, _'So these two combined their cards together to make this monster... which means that the others will be playing...'_

"Now I use my machine's effect!" the man continued, cutting Mike's thoughts off, "Now your monster is forced to switch from DEF mode to ATK mode!"

Mike cringed as he flipped his monster up, revealing his Frequency Magician tuner monster.

 **[Frequency Magician – ATK: 800]**

"Ha!" the shaved man chortled, "A weak monster! If it wasn't my first turn I'd take it out right now!

"But instead," he finished, "I'll just set a card and end my turn!"

"My turn!" the third man cried. This man having no hair on his head, but his beard suggested that he was a die-hard ZZ Top fan.

"I'll summon out my X-Head Canon!" he decided.

 **[X-Head Cannon – ATK: 1800]**

Mike glared at the monster as he watched his fears become reality, while the bearded man continued, "And with one more set card, I'll wrap up there!"

"Then _I'm_ up!" the ringleader of the four finally said.

"I summon my Y-Dragon Head!" he decided.

 **[Y-Dragon Head – ATK: 1500]**

"Then I'll activate the spell card, Frontline Base!" he continued as his spell activated, "And thanks to this card, I can special summon one Union monster once per turn! So I choose my Z-Metal Tank!"

 **[Z-Metal Tank – ATK: 1500]**

Mike's eyes narrowed as the ringleader now cried out, "Now I'll combine the three monsters—X-Head Cannon, Y-Dragon Head, and Z-Metal Tank—and create the XYZ Dragon Cannon!"

 **[XYZ-Dragon Cannon – ATK: 2800]**

Mike watched with wide eyes behind his glasses as the creature that the three named machines had combined to become now thudded onto the ground as the ringleader went on: "And with this creature, by discarding one card, I can destroy your Frequency Magician!"

The XYZ machine aimed its cannons at Mike's puny tuner monster, firing two blasts that shattered the wired mage in the blink of an eye.

"I'm afraid there's more where that came from," the mustached man now taunted, forcing Mike to accept that he really was about to face what he thought he was, "See, while my other boys here got my Dragon Cannon's buddy VW-Tiger Catapult on the field, it and my monster aren't enough.

"Which is why..." he drawled with an evil grin, "I'm gonna combine _them_ too!"

Mike's heart nearly stopped as he watched the two fused machines now broke apart amongst each other, before recombining themselves together into a creature comparable in size to Danny's Machina Force.

"Meet the instrument of your destruction!" the ringleader cried out, "I create the VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon!"

 **[VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon – ATK: 3000]**

"And it's got an effect that'll wipe the rest of your field clean!" the ringleader explained haughtily, "He can banish one card on the opponent's field once per turn, and I'm gonna be taking out that face down card of yours!"

The oversized transformer's chest-cannons aimed down at Mike's set card, Forced Ceasefire, before blasting it out of existence.

"Ha!" the ringleader chortled as Mike placed the trap card back in his deck box, "Your field's run dry, now!

"And now to begin adding insult to injury," the shorter man with the Mohawk cried out, "I'll activate my Blast with Chain trap card, giving our monster an extra 500 ATK!"

 **[VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon – ATK: 3500]**

"I'll also lend a hand to our monster!" the completely shaved man next to him decided, "I equip my Mist Body spell to our monster, giving it immunity to destruction by battle!"

"And even if you somehow overpower it," the bearded one now spoke, "I'll use my Fiery Fervor trap, which equips to our monster and doubles its original ATK should any of your monsters' ATK rise over its own original 3000!"

"But I don't think that's going to be a problem either way," the mustached ringleader reasoned, "For I'll now equip the classic Axe of Despair to give my monster ANOTHER 1000 ATK!"

 **[VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon – ATK: 4500]**

The four men were now laughing in triumph as Mike looked up at the opposing monster towering over them all. "Our monster is untouchable now!" the ringleader cried out, "So go ahead and make your next move, punk, so that we can spend the new few turns blasting you away!"

Adam, having watched everything so far from the sidelines, scrunched up his old face as he looked to his disguised client. _'How does he plan to get around something like this...?'_ he questioned silently.

But little did everybody else know: Mike had already planned out this mechanized mayhem's downfall.

"Heh... I got to hand it to you," Mike spoke to his four opponents with a small smile, "I'm actually somewhat impressed. Your monster's strength is incredible, and those equip cards make it quite the formidable foe. It's almost flawless—a perfect monster for the perfect victory.

"Which is why..." Mike's smile broadened, "It's the perfect weapon for me to use to defeat you."

Shocked disbelief spread across the faces of Adam and the other four men as Mike started: "It's my turn! And I'll begin by activating my Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy the Axe of Despair!"

 **[VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon – ATK: 3500]**

The ringleader's eyes narrowed as he was forced to place his equip card in the graveyard as Mike went on: "Then, by discarding one card from my hand, I can special summon The Tricky!"

 **[The Tricky – ATK: 2000]**

"I'll follow that up with my Delta Flyer tuner monster!" Mike continued.

 **[Delta Flyer – ATK: 1500]**

The four men scoffed. "Don't tell me you think that any Synchro monster can help you?!" the ringleader said mockingly.

"Let's find out!" Mike shot back, "I tune my Delta Flyer to my Tricky!"

Delta Flyer became three emerald rings aligned in the air, which The Tricky dived through as he became five balls of energy.

"Now I Synchro summon!" Mike cried out as a pillar of light engulfed the rings and orbs, "Rise up, Colossal Fighter!"

 **[Colossal Fighter – ATK: 2800]**

Adam looked on with confusion while the other four men's faces soured at the sight of this new monster. "Are you trying to insult us before losing this duel?!" the ringleader snarled, "Because we'll make your life a living hell for that!"

"Lucky for you, then," Mike said, "You've less work to do since I'm not insulting you. In fact, my Colossal Fighter's one of the keys to my victory.

"The other is this!" Mike exclaimed as he used the last card in his hand, "I play the Junk Barrage equip spell! Now, whenever the equipped monster destroys an opposing monster in battle, you guys will lose LP equal to half of that monster's ATK!"

The ringleader chuckled at this description. "Even if you equip that card to your Fighter, it won't matter!" he reminded Mike, "Your monster is still too weak to even leave a scratch on our Catapult Cannon!"

"True," Mike agreed tersely, "But like I said before, your monster is the perfect weapon for me to use. And I'm gonna use him by equipping my Junk Barrage to it!"

"What?!" the four men cried out as Adam felt his old heartbeat begin to pick up in pace, flowing with the intensity that the duel had built up now.

"And now it's the beginning of your end!" Mike now declared, "Colossal Fighter, attack that Catapult Cannon now!"

Mike's marble-made warrior leaped into the air, and shot itself in a spiraling motion towards the large five-in-one machine with fists extended.

But the ringleader smiled devilishly as he shot back, "Catapult Cannon, retaliate!"

The oversized machine aimed its cannons up at Colossal Fighter and opened fire on him, resulting in his being destroyed in a cloud of smoke that enveloped the entire field.

 **[Mike – LP: 7300]**

The four bar thugs laughed at the coated stranger's suicidal move. "You must be as dumb as you look!" the ringleader cried out amidst the laughter, "You let your monster get completely pulverized!"

But as the smoke cleared, they were surprised to see the coated man standing tall and calm, with a sly smile on his face.

 _'Why is he smiling...?'_ Adam wondered on the sidelines, trying to find reason behind the coated man's intentions with that last move.

Finally, Mike spoke: "I wouldn't be laughing if I were the four of you; because, from what I can tell, I just confirmed that you're about to lose."

The four of them all stopped abruptly at the same time as Mike now explained: "See, my Junk Barrage now takes effect! Even though it's equipped to _your_ monster, it's still _my_ card, which means it deals the damage it does to _my_ opponents!

"So now," Mike said as he pointed a finger to his four opponents, "You take half of my Colossal Fighter's ATK as damage, or 1400 points!"

 **[Bar Thugs – LP: 6600]**

The ringleader cringed. "So what of it?" he retorted, "Your monster's gone now, and there's nothing else you can do this turn!"

Mike did not respond, but instead only pointed at the ground before him. Adam and the bar thugs watched in awe as the ground Mike's finger was pointing at burst open before him, and Colossal Fighter emerged back onto the field.

 **[Colossal Fighter – ATK: 2800]**

"When Colossal Fighter is destroyed in battle," Mike explained, "His ability allows him to resurrect any warrior-type monster in my graveyard—including himself!"

Everyone's eyes were widened as they all realized what this meant, while Mike continued: "And since he's been revived, he's now considered a new monster, and gets to attack again! So go, Colossal Fighter!"

Colossal Fighter proceeded to attack the same exact way he had before, only to have his attack foiled by the blast of the cannons on the four men's battle machine yet again as it was destroyed.

 **[Mike – LP: 6600]**

"And once more," Mike said as his victory smile now spread across his face, "You lose 1400 LP for destroying my Fighter!"

 **[Bar Thugs – LP: 5200]**

"And again, just like before," Mike cried as his Colossal Fighter emerged from the ground before him once more, "My Fighter revives as a new monster, ready to attack again!"

Everyone else's jaws except for Mike's hung open now as Colossal Fighter made its attack once more, triggering Dragon Catapult Cannon's counterattack and destroying him as Junk Barrage activated.

 **[Mike – LP: 5900]**

 **[Bar Thugs – LP: 3800]**

"Th-this is impossible!" the ringleader cried out in disbelief.

"It's completely possible!" Mike countered, "You're trapped in a never-ending loop that's gonna end you in just three more attacks! Strike again, Colossal Fighter!"

Once again, Colossal Fighter dived to his death by Dragon Catapult Cannon's blasts, only to be revived by its own effect.

 **[Mike – LP: 5100]**

 **[Bar Thugs – LP: 2400]**

"Now you see what I meant when I said that your Catapult Cannon was the perfect weapon for me to use!" Mike exclaimed as Colossal Fighter once again charged in, only to be blasted again but then revived shortly after.

 **[Mike – LP: 4600]**

 **[Bar Thugs – LP: 1000]**

The ringleader's jaw clenched. "Damn you..." he growled through gritted teeth, "I'll give you hell for this!"

"Don't bother," Mike shot back, "I'm already going there anyway.

"Now, Colossal Fighter!" he declared one last time, "Finish this duel now!"

Colossal Fighter made to attack the Dragon Catapult Cannon one last time as the machine counteracted, shattering Colossal Fighter one last time to trigger Junk Barrage's effect, ending the game.

 **[Mike – LP: 3800]**

 **[Bar Thugs – LP: 0]**

 **[Winner: Mike]**

The four men sunk to their knees as the holograms vanished, and the duel disks all deactivated. Adam stood awe-struck by the duel he had just witnessed, before a smile came to his wrinkled lips as he realized his client was worth his pay.

The ringleader finally stood and faced Mike, unable to truly meet his eyes through his glasses. "I should kick your ass right now, Overcoat..." he muttered as the other thugs joined him standing up.

"But you won't," Mike replied coolly, "Matter of fact, I think it's time for you to leave."

"And what's to stop us from beating the crap outta you anyway?!" the mustached man shot back.

"Because."

They all turned to see the old barkeeper holding up his cell phone in his left hand, saying, "I've got 9-1-1 on speed dial if you're lookin' for trouble. I wouldn't risk it if I were you."

The four men glared at Adam before then turning their gaze back to the coated stranger that had just defeated them in a one-turn-kill. "If I ever see you again..." the ringleader warned him, "You're a dead man, you hear me?"

"Loud and clear," Mike replied simply, "Good thing you'll never see me again."

The four bar thugs glared at him for another moment before finally turning their backs, walking away down the roads of the darkened slums.

Mike now turned to walk towards Adam, who nodded his approval of the stranger's performance of his task. "I'm highly impressed," he complimented Mike, "I've not met such a resourceful duelist in a long time."

"I learned from the best," was Mike's response, before finally getting back to his goal at hand: "But that aside, I think you owe me something, don't you?"

"Right..." Adam mused, cupping his chin as a thoughtful expression took over his face, "Give me a moment..."

Mike stood patiently waiting for about a half minute as Adam thought about where Louis Costanzo was. "If I remember correctly..." he recalled, "Louis start working at the County Dame Pier, south of the city. But the docks close at six, so you might want to get a move on if you want to catch him."

Mike nodded his understanding. "Thanks," he said gratefully to the old man, before turning on his heel to walk down the sidewalk, plotting a new course in his mind.

"Anytime," the old barkeeper called after him as Mike wrapped his coat even tighter around himself, trying to keep warm.

By Mike's estimate, the pier was about an hour away, and his watch read 4:50 PM exactly. At any rate, he would make it just in time to find Costanzo, and get the answers he sought.

 _'Don't worry, Casey...'_ he thought silently as he made his way down County Dame's streets, _'I promise I'll find you.'_

* * *

Danny, Marina, and Violet all sat within their trailer in the construction yard, all eyes looking to the short note that Violet had taken from her father earlier that morning.

Violet had told them all the story of the phone call Mike had received the night before, leaving them all perplexed as to who Mike might've been talking to. He had not addressed the caller by any name or alias, which probably meant that Mike was trying to protect this person's identity. It also stood to reason that this person had to have been someone that Mike had met during the last two years, but at least the dialogue that had been exchanged with this person gave them the idea that it was an ally, of sorts.

And then there was "her"—the one who Mike had said was "taken." This mentioned girl was just as vaguely detailed as the one on the phone, but the fact alone that she was female was what really got to Violet. This opened up the possibility that perhaps this girl was a former lover of Mike's; but with so little detail on who "she" actually was, they couldn't come down to any kind of accurate conclusion about her importance to him.

Now, they were all sitting in silence inside the trailer. Danny was hunched over in his chair, with elbows resting on his knees and his chin resting on his interlocked fingers. He was desperately trying to add up what they had just discussed so they could come to a conclusion with some closure, but the lack of facts and evidence made it nearly impossible.

Violet was seated on the old couch with her face in her hands, her head swimming with all that they had discussed. Marina sat next to her with a comforting arm wrapped around her shoulders, but other than that, she had no idea what else she could do. She kept locking eyes with Danny, as if begging him to come up with an idea for something to say or do to make Violet feel better. But his eyes held no such ideas; only the same confusion that was swelling inside of Violet.

Finally, Violet brushed Marina's arm off of her as she stood, saying, "Thanks for trying guys, but I guess there's really nothing else we can do now. I'm going home."

Violet began to exit the trailer, disregarding Danny's and Marina's pleas for her to stay. They didn't want her leaving with her mind so distressed that she might emotionally explode at some point later.

But Violet came to a stop as she reached the second concrete step, her attention having been caught by the figure of the man walking through the construction yard towards them:

The man's dark-red cape billowed behind him as he walked, with his tightly-done buckles in the front of his cape on his chest doing the same. The dark, navy blue shirt beneath it was wrinkled and ripped in a few places, as were his black pants. The steps he took in his black boots were muffled by the dirt in the construction site.

Danny and Marina now appeared behind Violet as the rest of the man's features came into clearer view: the man's long, chocolate brown hair was held up by a tattered red headband, while his intense, crimson eyes seemed to see right through the three friends.

But what really caught the three's eyes was the holster on the man's belt: it was the same exact holster that had held Mike's revolver-duel disk, and within it, they could see the exact same contraption.

The man eventually stopped about six feet away from the stone steps into the trailer, looking to the three teenagers with his intense glare. "Where is Michael Harper?" he directly questioned them, his dark, gruff voice intimidating them to no end.

Danny leaped past the ladies and landed on the ground in front of them, spreading his arms out as if to try and shield them. "Hey, how about a little introduction before asking for something, buddy?" he shot back, though if he could see Marina's face, he would have been able to tell how much she wanted to strangle him for being so reckless by retorting rudely to a man who looked like he belonged in a retro western movie full of gunslingers.

Violet, on the other hand, didn't share in Marina's fear: she had a feeling she knew _exactly_ who this man they were facing was, and it was the one man who could tell her everything she wanted to know.

Finally, the man said, "My name is Aeron Mortimer, and I won't ask you again: where is Michael Harper?"

* * *

 **Next Time**

 **Chapter 7: "Fire"**

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

 _So for those of you who are wondering about the deck that Mike used in this chapter... well, allow me to tell you a short story:_

 _A long time ago (AKA literally when I first joined in 2011), I came onto this site to write my first-ever story, entitled "Yu-Gi-Oh! The Lost Decks". This story starred a different incarnation of Mike set in an merged, AU version of the GX and 5D's timelines, and was planned out for 7 seasons and 500 chapters in total... before I cancelled it after getting 26 chapters into its first season._ o_o

 _Now, I actually hadn't planned on there being a duel in this chapter originally, but I decided I'd include one anyway to give Mike a reason to pick up his old deck from The Lost Decks one more time; hence why I referenced it in this story as his "childhood" deck. In short: this chapter's duel was my way of paying homage to my old story. It is loved and missed._

 _Also, as I explained in the A/N of the first chapter: I will also be using A/Ns to advertise any other works of my own, as well as other author's works. Below is my first recommendation for someone else's work, and it's one that I heavily, HEAVILY implore that you go read._

* * *

 **Recommended Works**

 ** _Yu-Gi-Oh! Reality's Curtain_** **, by Master Of Anime224** \- _Set in the fictional city of Nishihama, Japan, this story follows the path of young duelist Matsuda Yukaro as he struggles to unravel the mysteries surrounding a strange woman, an off-putting classmate, and a group of shady individuals with less-than-innocent intentions. But little does he know that the forces he's chasing after will not only have an effect on the lives of him and his friends, but on the very fabric of reality itself..._

* * *

 _ **\- Last Revised: May 2, 2017 -**_


	7. Fire

**Yu-Gi-Oh! Mark of Death**

 **Chapter 7: "Fire"**

 **Opening Theme: "Raining" by Art Of Dying**

 **Ending Theme: "Behind Blue Eyes" by Limp Bizkit**

* * *

 ** _\- THE NIGHT BEFORE -_**

Mike closed the apartment door behind him as he held the phone up to his ear. "Who are you?" he demanded coldly, "And how did you get this number?"

" _You ought to know who this is._ "

His nerves settled down at the sound of his old friend's deep, dark voice. "Glad to know you're alright," he said, now with calm assurance.

" _I'm lucky to be alright,_ " Aeron's cold voice replied back, _"Since you ditched me."_

Mike rubbed his temples with his free hand at this, recalling the events of only a few weeks ago. "I know; I'm sorry," he apologized sincerely, "We were compromised."

" _What happened to Casey?_ "

Mike felt like his heart had stopped just from hearing her name. He opened his mouth to reply but couldn't find his words at first—his recollection of the events that had occurred only weeks ago still haunted him, from the way he had been to the way he had let everyone he cared for down; especially _her_.

Finally, Mike took a deep breath before shakily replying, "She didn't make it... some guys that _you_ must have missed took her."

" _Hmph,_ " he heard Aeron grunt, though he couldn't identify if he was just taking that last statement as factual or regrettably; " _Well, the ones who took her don't have her anymore._ "

Mike felt his stomach churn at this thought. "What do you mean?" he asked confusedly.

" _It was two guys who attacked you, right?_ " Aeron clarified.

"Yeah," Mike confirmed.

" _I hunted one of them down here,_ " Aeron explained, " _I'm actually using his phone right now. Apparently, he split up with his partner after they got her, but he doesn't know where she ended up. But he's sure that his partner ended up in County Dame._ "

Mike felt his stomach churn as his eyes went wide. "Are you serious...?" he asked, hoping that Aeron wasn't pulling his leg.

" _Name's Louis Costanzo,_ " Aeron spoke, " _Far as I've learned, he has one contact in County Dame named Adam Marker. Works at a bar in the slums; supposed to know everything about everyone in every honest or criminal organization there. He ought to be able to tell you where he is._ "

"Alright," Mike said with understanding, "I'll find him."

" _Not alone you won't,_ " Aeron corrected him, " _I'll be—_ "

Whatever else Aeron was about to say was garbled by static, which made Mike's heart do somersaults as his mind went into panic mode.

"What's going on?" Mike demanded with anxiety, "Hello? Hello?!"

But his "hellos" went unheard; the line disconnected before the static ceased, and all was quiet.

Mike's arm that was holding up his phone dropped to his side as he looked to the floor, hiding his despair-filled eyes. "Damn it..." he muttered as his back slumped against the apartment door, sinking to the floor as he buried his head in his arms wrapped around his legs.

It looked like he was on his own to find this "Louis Costanzo."

 ** _\- FLASHBACK END -_**

* * *

The sun was beginning to set as Danny, Marina, and Violet all stood facing the red-caped man named Aeron Mortimer, staring them down with his crimson-colored eyes.

Danny stood before the girls in a defensive stance, ready to stop this man if he was about to wage some kind of attack on them. Marina stood in the doorway of the trailer, petrified in her fright at the sight of the deathly-looking man. But Violet stared back into Aeron's sharp gaze as a realization came to her mind.

She made her way down the stone steps past Danny, who gawked at her surprisingly before whispering in a snap, "Violet, no! Get back!"

But she stopped a good five feet away from Aeron as she looked into his eyes. They looked cold and ruthless, reminding her somewhat of Mike's eyes from when he'd first returned home. But there was a noticeable difference between the two: Mike's eyes had only felt hard and cold, whereas this man's eyes and his gaze felt like almost _deathly_.

"You..." she said nervously, "You're the one who called Mike last night, aren't you...?"

Aeron glanced at her with his penetrating glare, before closing them as he gave a sigh of "Hmph," following that with, "That's right."

His eyes reopened as he now said, "And if you're who I think you are, then you should be able to tell me where he is."

Violet's heart sank as she looked to the ground. "Actually..." she corrected, "He disappeared this morning. We have no idea where he went."

Danny and Marina had both calmed their postures, but their hearts continued to race. They had no idea how this Aeron character might react to learning that they had nothing to tell him.

But to their surprise, the man only asked: "Where do you _think_ he is?"

The three friends didn't know how to answer this. They had just spent an hour mulling over where Mike might have gone. And leaving this man without an answer seemed like a _really_ bad idea.

But Violet had one way she could at least give the man an answer, and it was better than not saying anything at all: she took from her pocket the note Mike had left that morning and held it up. "He only left this..." she answered honestly.

Aeron now walked to approached Violet, standing only two feet from her before taking the note from her hand and unfolding it to read it. Danny and Marina couldn't imagine how Violet could be so unbelievably calm near this man, since he was still making both of their legs quiver.

Aeron sped through the note before sighing, shaking his head in disapproval. "That idiot," he muttered as he handed her back the note.

"What?" Danny demanded, "You know what he's up to?"

Aeron's eyes now locked with Danny's, making the latter feel somewhat weak in the knees. "He's looking for a man named Louis Costanzo," he explained factually, "Someone who took a friend of ours."

Danny, Marina, and Violet were silent. Violet was particularly petrified as she put the pieces together in her mind: the girl Mike had mentioned the previous night—this friend of his and Aeron's that had been captured—they had to have been the same person.

"Well, I don't care about the who's, the what's, and the why's," Danny finally spoke up, now sprinting past Aeron as he made for the construction yard's exit, "I'm gonna go help him find this guy!"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Aeron's words surprised the three as Danny stopped mid-run, turning on his heel as he looked back to Aeron with an angry fire in his eyes as he shot back: "Oh yeah, and why's that?!"

"For one thing, you have no idea where Mike is right now," Aeron said simply, "For another, this man that he's looking for is potentially dangerous. What do you think you could do to help even if you knew where to find him?"

The three friends went wide-eyed in surprise at these details, but only Violet felt unable to catch her breath as she tried to digest that. "Are you saying that this guy... might try to kill him...?" she asked shakily, even though she feared that she already knew the answer.

Aeron turned to Violet. "If you're worried about Mike's safety, then don't," Aeron assured them, "He's handled far worse situations."

Now everyone gathered had looks of utmost confusion on their faces save for Aeron, who took notice of the three teens' expressions. "Let me guess," Aeron inquired, "He hasn't told any of you anything."

The three friends' all locked eyes with each other at least once, remembering Danny's duel with Mike to try and find out how Mike had spent his last two years.

Taking the silence as their answer, Aeron then said, "I'm not surprised. The whole reason he came back here was to forget about the last two years."

"And just what is it he's trying to forget?" Danny now faced Aeron's back, his attention fully gained by the stranger.

"That's something I can't tell you," was Aeron's answer.

Now Danny's face regained the fiery anger it'd had before as he stormed towards Aeron, nearly throwing himself into his face as he yelled at him, "Whattaya mean you can't tell us?! He's our friend! We deserve to know the truth, damn it!"

"The bullet holes..."

Everyone's attention was now on Violet again as she addressed Aeron, "The bullet holes in the back of his duster... he's seen things like _war_ , hasn't he? He's been through so much worse than we can imagine."

Danny and Marina were stunned as it all came together: Mike's reluctance to talk about anything from the last two years; the duel disk shaped like a revolver; the bullet holes that Violet had noticed...

Aeron sounded like he had given a small chuckle. "Very perceptive," he complimented her, "But I still can't tell you anything."

"Oh, I've had just about enough of this..." Danny growled as his fists balled, "If you don't start giving us some straight answers—!"

"I made a promise."

Danny stopped cold as everyone's expressions turned to confusion, while Aeron looked up to the surrounding cityscape reflectively. "Me, Mike, and our friend that Louis Costanzo took were all supposed to come here together," he explained to them with what they thought was sorrow in his dark voice, "But our plan was compromised. I stayed behind to give them a chance to run on their own. But our friend was captured, while Mike somehow managed to escape."

Now Aeron looked back to the three friends again as his tone turned serious: "All Mike wanted was to return to his normal life here," he said, "And he believed the only way to do that was to pretend like the last two years had never happened. So when we agreed to go with him, he made us promise to never bring up that place again to anyone else."

Violet, Danny, and Marina were speechless, not knowing how to react. But one thing was clicking in their mind now: Mike's bitter attitude towards Josiah and everyone else when he'd first arrived home... no wonder he'd been so stone cold. It had to have been just after his and Aeron's friend had been taken away during their trip to County Dame.

And then there was why he hadn't wanted to talk about where he'd been, where they had tried to force the truth out of him. Violet could see the remorse in Danny's eyes as he reflected back to his last duel with Mike. He had to have felt horrible now, knowing that he'd tried to force his best friend's hand.

But Danny's next words suggested otherwise: "He should've figured that we'd ask..." he said, sounding annoyed, "Who wouldn't ask an old friend where they've been after disappearing for two years without any warning? Did he seriously think he could just come back, and everything could return to normal?!"

Marina's eyes couldn't hide their compassionate stare for Danny as his agitation visibly increased. Violet was speechless at this point.

"It's like your friend said," Aeron broke the tense silence, "Mike has seen things unlike anything you could imagine. He's not exactly in the best state of mind. You think it's any wonder why he doesn't want to talk about the last two years?"

Danny had no comeback for that; Aeron _did_ have a point.

"Then that leaves only one question..." Marina finally spoke up as she made her way down the concrete steps to join her friends on the ground, "If he came here to forget about the last two years... then why is he chasing after this friend of his from there?"

Another good point that got the three of them looking to Aeron to answer. This was especially something Violet wanted to hear, since she knew specifically that this "friend" Aeron kept mentioning was the girl from the dialogue she'd overheard between him and Mike the night before. And whatever this girl was to him, and why it was so important that he chased after her, would reflect on how he might've felt about Violet.

But it seemed even Aeron didn't have all of the answers: "That's something you'd have to ask him yourself," was all he said.

Disappointment adorned Violet's, Danny's, and Marina's faces. It looked like Violet would have to wait to find out the truth about how the boy she'd always loved felt about her.

She didn't linger on that disappointment for long, however, as Aeron then said, "But enough about Mike, now... I want to know more about you three, starting with your names."

This was somewhat of a jolt out of the serious conversation that the four of them had been having. Now this guy was suddenly demanding to know their names; and from the sound of his voice, they had a feeling it would be a bad idea to not comply.

"Alright..." Danny volunteered himself to go first, though now he was looking at Aeron with a quizzical look, as if the way he'd suddenly changed topic made him untrustworthy, "The name's Daniel Stark. Call me Danny."

"So you're the skater kid," Aeron noted, "Mike's best friend."

Danny was taken aback, as were Marina and Violet. So this guy knew them all by name? Mike had actually talked to him about them while he was away?

There was only one way to confirm this: "My name's Marina," Marina introduced herself next, "Marina Livesey."

"The younger, smart one," Aeron recalled, "The voice of reason in your group."

Violet watched Marina go pink in the face, like she was thinking, _'Did Mike really say that about me...?'_

Now Danny was looking to her, suppressing a chortle at the sight of Marina's pink face. Little did anyone else know that in the back of his mind, he secretly found it cute.

Aeron finally turned to Violet now, cutting her off before she could speak as he deduced, "And that makes _you_ Violet..."

Violet, Danny and Marina were all now looking towards Aeron as they noticed his tone had changed—as if Violet was special in some way.

Violet could only nod her confirmation, as she didn't know how to react to Aeron's sudden tone shift. Aeron, in response, said, "You're the one he holds affection for."

Violet had to take in a quick gasp as she took in that information. Danny and Marina looked almost panicked, as if they'd have to dive in to catch Violet at any given time if she fainted. But somehow she managed to keep herself together as she stammered, "W-wha...? You mean he...?"

"Cares very deeply about you," Aeron finished for her, "He has for a long time."

Violet couldn't believe what she was hearing. Even her earlier concerns about the girl that Mike must have been out searching for seemed to fade away into her subconscious as the fact filled her mind like a swollen balloon: her childhood crush had shared the same feelings as she had for the same amount of time, and he'd been as secretive about it as she had been.

Danny and Marina didn't know what to do with themselves now. All they could think of was to look to each other, but that quickly turned awkward when they both saw their own affection for each other momentarily before looking back to Violet and Aeron.

Aeron didn't seem to notice or even care that he had dropped a huge surprise on Violet, as he then shifted his attention back to all three of them at once. "Anything else that you all want to share?"

Violet tried to manage the sudden shock of what she had just learned out of her mind to think of something else to say, as did Danny and Marina. But they found themselves at a loss for words, unable to bring themselves to say anything else to Aeron since nothing else came to their minds. He apparently already knew a lot about them as it was—what else was there really for them to tell that he didn't know?

The deathly-feeling man eventually sighed after a few moments of silence, shaking his head as he did so. "Teenagers," he muttered, annoyed, "Even Mike was better conversation than you all when he was younger."

Danny gave Aeron a snarky look at that remark. Marina looked away in embarrassment as he rubbed one of her arms. Violet didn't really care—she was just overjoyed to learn that her lifelong crush really _did_ harbor the same feelings for her as she did for him.

Then Aeron made the move that nobody expected: from his side he whipped out his own revolver-duel disk from its holster, placing it on his left wrist where it latched onto him as it activated, fanning out its five monster and spell/trap zones.

All three friends jumped backwards slightly as Aeron made his swift motion, but as they realized what it was that he had done, they looked to him with confusion as he explained, "If you really have nothing else to say, then what would you say to a duel instead?"

Marina and Violet looked to Danny, waiting to hear his response. Among the three of them there, he was the only duelist in their group aside from Mike.

But what he said instead surprised them all: "You expect me to duel you..." he uttered before his voice turned into an angry shout, "When my best friend is out there, possibly in danger, and needs my help?!"

Violet and Marina went wide-eyed at this. They had almost completely forgotten about the fact that Mike was currently out looking for someone who'd taken one of his friends.

But Aeron only reiterated: "I already told you: Mike has more than enough experience to handle himself on his own. So for the moment, I'd rather get to know you."

"And you think a duel will tell you anything about me?" Danny retorted suspiciously.

"A true duelist can see into the heart and soul of another through their dueling," Aeron explained factually, "So I'll learn more about you through a duel than anything you can tell me with your own words.

"And besides," Aeron added, almost sarcastically, "I need something to do while I wait for Mike to come back."

Violet and Marina looked to Danny as they waited on his decision of whether or not he would duel. He was fired up quite a bit now, so it was questionable whether or not he would go for it.

But it seemed that he was willing to simmer down a little bit for the time being: "Alright," he finally agreed as he activated the duel disk on his left arm, "If you're itching for a duel so badly, I guess I'll give you one!"

Aeron smirked. "You have a real duelist's spirit after all," he said, "Glad to see you're listening to reason."

"More like I REALLY need to get some aggression out of my system," Danny corrected him, "And I can't see a better way to do that right now."

Aeron chuckled at this remark. "Whatever works for you," he spoke as he drew five cards, "Just don't disappoint me."

"I don't plan on it!" Danny shot back as he too drew five cards.

"LET'S DUEL!" was cried between the two.

 **[Danny - LP: 8000]**

 **[Aeron - LP: 8000]**

Marina moved off to the side to join Violet as they looked on, the same thought running through both of their minds: they were about to see just what kind of duelists Mike had been surrounded by for the last two years.

"Since I'm the visitor here, I think I'll take the first move," Aeron decided as he drew first.

He scanned his hand carefully for a time, his eyes darting back and forth between the cards that made up his hand. As he strategized, Danny seemed to be boiling with energy—one filled with a determination that neither Violet nor Marina had ever seen in him before. Despite the fact that he was going up against a duelist whose presence felt more dead than alive, there was a fire that was fueling Danny to the point that he was finally able to hold his composure against this stranger.

Finally, Aeron broke the silence as he came to a decision of how he was going to begin this duel: "I'll start by activating the Zombie World field spell," he started, an area on the edge of his duel disk opening to allow the field spell to be placed in it.

Now the entire environment surrounding them changed into one that sent chills down each and every one of the three friends' spines: it became a forest of the dead, with dead trees in ghostly shapes surrounding the landscape, and a blood-red pond could be seen a little ways away from them. Skulls and skeletons of all sorts of creatures lingered beneath everyone covering the ground below their feet, making every small movement of the foot make a crack in the lifeless bones.

Violet stared in awe at the sight of this new field. "I've never seen anything like this before..." she said, her jaw remaining slightly agape as she took in the sights.

"I'll say..." Marina replied, mildly shaking as she did so, "Freaks me the hell out, though..."

Violet turned to her best friend with a surprised look as she asked, "Really? _This_ kinda stuff scares you?"

"Ever since my dad jumped me in a skeleton costume on Halloween when I was four, _yes_..." she admitted through gritted teeth.

Meanwhile, Aeron now continued as he said, "Now I'll set one card face down. And with that, I end my turn."

Danny's, Marina's, and Violet's eyes all widened. He played the most creepy field spell card in the world, and then set only one card face down? There had to have been more to his strategy that he wasn't letting on.

"Well if that's all you're gonna do," Danny cried as he drew next, "I'm gonna have an easier time winning this duel than I thought!

"First I'm summoning out my Scrap Recycler!" he began.

 **[Scrap Recycler - LV: 3/ATK: 900]**

"And thanks to its effect, I can take any machine from my deck, and send it to my graveyard!" he explained, "So I'll send my Machina Fortress!"

"I don't see how that's going to help you," Aeron told him as he watched the Machina card get sent to the graveyard.

"Don't worry, you're about to!" Danny said with a smirk, "Now I'll discard my Green and Red Gadgets from my hand, in order to resurrect my Machina Fortress from the graveyard with its effect!"

 **[Machina Fortress - LV: 7/ATK: 2500]**

"And now I'll take advantage of my Scrap Recycler's second special ability!" Danny continued, "I can take two LV 4 EARTH machines from my graveyard, and shuffle them into my deck to draw another card!"

But what happened when Danny went to reach for his graveyard came as quite the literal shock to him: the moment his hand made contact with it, the small section of his duel disk emitted a spark of black electricity, making him wince at the electrocution as his mind filled with confusion. "What the hell...?" he muttered, "Why can't I touch my graveyard?"

"It's because you tried to play an illegal move," Aeron explained, "See, my Zombie World turns all monsters on both sides of the field _and_ in our graveyards to zombie-types.

"So when you tried to take machine-type monsters from your graveyard for Scrap Recycler's ability," Aeron pointed towards Danny's graveyard as he spoke, "You couldn't because you actually don't have any machine-type monsters in there at all."

Danny growled in frustration as he registered what Aeron was saying. Violet and Marina could understand how he felt right now: clearly he'd learned his lesson about hand control from his last duel with Mike, yet his strategy to utilize that lesson had just been shot down effortlessly by Aeron.

Now Danny refocused himself as he looked to his opponent. "You may have made it harder for me to use some of my combos," he shot at Aeron, "But you're still wide open for direct attacks! Go, Scrap Recycler!"

Scrap Recycler wheeled its way over to Aeron and clamped its mechanical jaw down on Aeron's arm, before scuttling back to its owner's side of the field.

 **[Aeron - LP: 7100]**

"Now I'll go and use my heavy ballistics!" Danny cried out, "Machina Fortress, fire at will!"

Machina Fortress took its large cannon mounted upon itself and aimed it straight at Aeron, before firing away at him. The blast engulfed the deathly-feeling man in a surge of light for a moment before fading away, though Aeron hadn't even flinched from the impact.

 **[Aeron - LP: 4600]**

"And THAT'S how it's done!" Danny proclaimed proudly, "I think I'll end my turn there!"

As Danny's turn came to a close, the two girls on the sidelines could only blink after watching Danny's move. "Wow..." was all Violet could mutter with awe in her voice, "His attacks actually went through..."

"Yeah..." Marina agreed almost dreamily, "He looked pretty good while he was doing it, too..."

Violet turned to her friend as she smirked. "You really _have_ fallen for him, haven't you?" she teased her.

Marina refused to meet Violet's eyes as she looked away, only just realizing what she'd said as her arms folded. "Please," she retorted back, "I have higher standards than just looking good in a duel!"

"Right..." Violet murmured as the two turned their attention back to the duel, where Aeron was looking Danny's Machina Fortress up and down with interest.

"I see..." he said curiously, "You only just recently re-strategized for that monster to be your ace, didn't you?"

Danny went wide-eyed at this remark, as did Violet and Marina. Danny's reaction was more due to the fact that he hadn't even shared with anybody that he had changed his strategy completely from summoning Machina Force to relying more on Machina Fortress. He'd had a one-track mind for so long with wanting to get Machina Force out, but after his duel with Mike, he'd realized that he needed a more accessible and effective strategy if he was ever going to pull off any victories.

And the fact that Aeron had dissected his strategy and even came to the conclusion that he had _just_ began using this strategy could only mean that he was, most likely, EXTREMELY skilled and experienced. And that probably meant that Aeron also knew that Danny was still testing the deck too, as he barely knew how to play it as effectively as he needed to if he were to have any chance at winning.

"You seem to have a lot of pent-up anger and aggression inside of you," Aeron continued to analyze, taking the three friends aback at his words, "Your willingness to immediately go on the offensive so recklessly shows me that you've got an urge to prove that you're strong—not just to me, or your friends, but also to yourself."

Now Danny was shaking. He couldn't even begin to comprehend how Aeron had taken all of that from just his opening move. And now it was like his whole heart had been exposed to both Aeron and his friends—and he had a feeling that his heart had already been shown to Mike through their duel as well.

Violet and Marina, standing on the sidelines, began to feel sympathetic towards their friend. They could tell that what Aeron was saying about him had to have been the truth—it made sense that Danny would want to become stronger, especially after seeing how much stronger Mike had become during their duel.

"Well?" said Aeron with interest, "Am I wrong?"

Danny forced his body to stop shaking as his eyes now locked with Aeron's, and for the first time, Violet and Marina noticed a small fire in his eyes—like a burning desire that he'd been keeping secret for so long had been brought up to the surface by Aeron's words.

"You're wrong about one thing..." he admittedly shakily as his one empty hand clenched into a fist, "I AM strong! And if I'm angry about anything, it's that you're trying to distract me from this duel by saying all this random stuff!"

Aeron gave an amused chuckle at this remark. "You're a poor liar," he said matter-of-factly, "Your eyes give it away, too—that everything I've said about you so far is true. There's no hiding that."

"And what makes you so sure that you're right?!" Danny shot back, frustrated.

"Because I've seen that same hidden truth in Mike's eyes," Aeron said simply, making Danny, Marina and Violet freeze at those words as Aeron's eyes closed in remembrance, "Only when I looked into his, he was hiding _fear_ , not anger..."

* * *

 ** _\- FLASHBACK -_**

The whole time Mike spent marching amongst Frontier Haven's citizens, he could feel his anxiety welling more and more inside of him.

It was bad enough that he didn't know whether or not he was going to survive this duel to the death that he was trudging towards; but what was even more petrifying to him was what he would have to do if he were victorious. Everyone was expecting him to kill this man named Keir if he came out victorious—an idea that he couldn't believe he even had to entertain.

He'd tried changing his perspective of the situation in an attempt to justify the actions he might've had to undertake: he wasn't dueling this man just so he could kill him in cold blood. Keir's death would mean the end of Frontier Haven's oppression under him. Ending one life to save hundreds of others had to be worth it... right?

Unfortunately, despite his efforts, no different outlook of the circumstances made the idea of taking another human's life away any easier to fathom. In fact, he was sure that nothing in the world could ever make him feel any different about it.

He looked back into the crowd of people behind him. He could see the girl named Casey that he'd met earlier a few paces behind him, stuck in the middle of the crowd. She caught his gaze, and managed to weakly smile at him; as if she was trying to give him some kind of reassurance that he would be okay, yet knew that wasn't very likely.

He tried to manage a smile of his own to send back to her before he suddenly felt a firm hand grasp his right shoulder, and he looked up to see that the hand belonged to Aeron, who was looking down at him.

"Are you ready for this?" he asked.

His eyes met Aeron's. He couldn't tell whether or not there was a sign of sympathy, callousness, or just no emotion at all in his crimson-red orbs. Aeron's expressions and emotions had always been extremely vague to him, and they weren't becoming any clearer to him anytime soon.

Mike turned away now as he heaved a sigh. "Yeah, I'll be fine..." he lied flatly, "Just... mentally preparing myself."

Even from the odd angle he was looking down at Mike from, he could see the lie clearly in his eyes. His ocean-blue orbs weren't reflecting the thoughts of a man who was preparing for a battle—they were the eyes of a boy terrorized with fear. Aeron couldn't blame him in the slightest; after all, every single practice duel that they'd run had ended with Mike's defeat. It almost made him feel remorseful for what he was about to do next:

He reached into a side pocket zipped up on his pants and pulled out a dueling deck, extending it out to Mike as he said, "Here."

Mike now looked to see the deck that Aeron was handing to him, before looking back up at his mentor with a raised eyebrow. "What's this?" Mike asked with uncertainty in his voice.

"An old deck of mine," Aeron explained simply, "Samael wants you to use it in your duel."

Mike stared at his mentor incredulously. "You've gotta be kidding..." he uttered with disbelief, "He expects me to duel with my life at stake using a deck I know nothing about...?"

"If that's how you feel about it, then you better start looking through it now while you still have time," was Aeron's retort.

Mike's slightly-agape jaw now shut itself as he looked to the deck in Aeron's hand. As much as he didn't want to part with _his_ deck for this duel, he had to look at the facts from every aspect: ever since he'd first arrived in Frontier Haven, Samael had said nothing about Mike except for how much he believed that he would be able to overthrow Keir. Now, he was expecting Mike to pick up another deck _just_ before the duel? The absurdity of that idea could be seen no matter how you looked at it.

But then again... what reason would Samael have to make Mike switch out decks so as to make him lose? He—as well as everybody else in Frontier Haven—was counting on him to win so he could free them from the Romans' tyranny. He wouldn't just set Mike up just to fail in the end; there was no sense to that, either.

With that thought, Mike made up his mind: he took the deck from Aeron's hand, and began skimming through it as his deathly-feeling mentor watched with surprise. He didn't actually think that Mike would go through with the idea. He'd expected that the thought of parting with the only reminder of his home and his friends would deter him completely.

But whatever the reason for Mike doing otherwise, Aeron was glad that he had. In all the years that he'd known Samael, Aeron knew that he'd never once been wrong about a feeling he had. That was the only reason that he'd agreed to give his apprentice this deck—he knew that Samael was right when he'd said that Mike's current deck would cost him the duel.

Now Mike clasped the deck in his left hand, using his right to take out his revolver-shaped duel disk, in which was his own deck. He took it and replaced it in the deck case on his best, and then placed the new deck in the duel disk's muzzle as a sudden feeling of dread washed over him.

"Aeron..." he said uneasily, locking eyes with his mentor as he spoke, "You said this duel disk isn't just shaped for its looks... is this what I'm expected to kill Keir with...?"

Aeron looked down to his young pupil with his emotionless gaze for a moment, before looking away again as he answered, "If he's not already dead by the of the duel, then yes."

Mike's eyebrows arched at this ominous response. "What do you mean by that...?" he asked, a slight quiver in his voice.

Aeron was about to open his mouth to answer before his attention seemed to be suddenly taken by the scenery ahead of them. "Looks like we've arrived," he instead said.

Mike looked up to see where Aeron was looking: ahead of them, another western-style town—much like Frontier Haven—was coming into Mike's view. But while it may have looked very similar to Frontier Haven's outward appearance, the vibe he was getting from it was much different compared to how he'd felt in Frontier Haven. The sight of the town alone was somehow enough to make the hair on his back stand up; all he could feel was a menacing, evil sensation pulsing from the settlement, as though the town itself was the residence of the Devil himself.

Now Aeron and Mike made their way to the front of the pack, where Samael was holding up his hand to signal that everyone halt as he came to a stop just before the entryway into the worn-out town.

"Saddleburry..." he growled quietly to Mike, "This is where Keir and his damn Romans have been holed up... all while holding _our_ lives at gunpoint..."

He now turned to look down at Mike an intense stare that pierced right through Mike's core. "Everything rides on you, now..." he said, sounding like he'd been waiting for the day he got to say that for all of his life.

Mike nodded his understanding as he tried to look confident in front of Samael. "Right..." he muttered as he looked into the forbidding town, "No pressure or anything."

Samael grinned at this for a moment, before looking back to the people of Frontier Haven. "Forward, march!" he cried out as he used his hand again to signal that they continue.

Now he, Aeron, Mike, and the rest of Frontier Haven's townspeople began walking their way into the old town, allowing Mike to take in its sights as he walked along its centered walkway: some of the buildings looking severely decayed and even charred in some places, but they were all essentially the same kind of structures that were also in Frontier Haven. Shops, saloons, and homelike complexes with porches out front at their entrances all aligned the town's streets.

But he quickly spotted the major difference between the two towns, as well as the reason he'd felt such malice before: the people that he saw scattered about were some of the most rogue-looking men and women he'd ever seen in his lifetime. The majority of them were all dressed in black, leather jackets and boots, black jeans, and brandished the same waist-bound holsters that the people of Frontier Haven did. He could feel the cold, hard stares of the people that he saw standing around at the front of the old buildings, glaring at the lot of people that had come from their sister town.

He tried his best to ignore them, and instead looked ahead to where they were headed towards. But the sight in front of him didn't look any more inviting than his other surroundings did: gathered in what must have been the center of the small town was an assembly of the same kind of leather-clad scoundrels, all looking as though they had been awaiting the arrival of Samael and his town's citizens.

Standing at the front of this pack was a man dressed much like the others, but with a few exceptions: his leather jacket was slightly longer than the others', and colored dirt-brown. His dark silver, slicked-back hair reached down to the middle of his back, and his sterling silver eyes looked like they were held up by the bags beneath them that showed his age. He stood at 5'11".

Now, as Frontier Haven's residents now stopped a good distance away from the leather-clad gang before them, the brown-jacketed man stepped away from his gang of rogues to stand in the middle of the town's empty center.

"You're late, Samael," he said jeeringly as he grinned, "You know that I don't like to be kept waiting!"

"Shut your mouth, Jared," Samael shot back, "You're only your boss's right hand man. That doesn't give you the right to act like him."

The taunting smile disappeared from the man named Jared's face, replaced with a scowl as he changed the subject: "So... who's your unwilling sacrifice this time?"

Samael now looked to Mike behind him, who nodded before he stepped past him and looked to the man named Jared dead in the eyes, hoping that his heart wasn't about to burst out of his rib cage as his pulse quickened.

"I am," he managed to blurt out, trying his best to not sound as terrified as he really was.

Jared stared momentarily at Mike, as though he was scanning him up and down to find the best way to break him like a fragile vase.

"You don't look like much of a fighter," he observed with a curled lip, "You wander into Frontier Haven by accident, kid?"

A few snickers came from some of the Saddleburry residents as Mike said nothing. It wasn't so much that he didn't know what to come back with; it was more that his fear was tightening its grip around him to the point that he was couldn't find his voice.

After waiting for a time, Jared finally turned his attention away from Mike and back to Samael. "So, who's the kid's opponent gonna be?" he inquired.

"He's challenging Keir," Samael answered sternly.

Jared went wide-eyed as he now looked back to Mike, before a smirk began to spread across his face, followed by stifled laughter. But he eventually burst into a sniggering fit as the rest of the leather-clad rogues around him broke into full-out, uproarious chortles as Mike seemed to shrink. Samael's eyebrows were knit as he felt his teeth grind.

Now, as the uproar of laughter died down, Jared composed himself as he pointed a finger at Mike as he cried out, "You can't be serious! You think that _this_ runt of a kid is even worth our leader's time and effort?!"

"If your leader isn't as much of a coward as I think," Samael shot back, "Then he'll put the time and effort in to accept this challenge."

Now Jared's expression turned into a sharp glare at Samael. "Why, you..." he snarled, "How dare you speak of our leader like—!"

"That's enough, Jared."

The voice that had cut off the brown-jacketed man came from behind the wall of scoundrels huddled together in the town's square. The man's voice left every last person in the town—both the rogues of Saddleburry and the townspeople of Frontier Haven—stunned, as if just the man's voice was a sign that they had suddenly entered the presence of a god.

Now Jared looked behind him to see the leather-clad men and women behind him parting themselves down the middle to let their leader walk through to the front. This man stood at about 6'1". His duster was colored only a slightly lighter shade of brown than Jared's was, but it was as long as Samael's black one in the back. Beneath that was a white shirt that was ripped slightly down the middle from the top; his legs were covered by dark, navy-blue jeans, and his feet with boots matching the color of his duster. The same holster that everybody else had to hold their revolver-duel disks was slung around his waist as well.

The man's black, matted hair looked both unkempt yet sophisticated. His face had a few less wrinkles than Samael, which gave Mike the impression that this man had to be somewhere between his mid-to-late forties. The man's emerald eyes were unnervingly calm to Mike, as was the man's cocky half-grin. The air of confidence that he gave off made it believable to Mike that he really must have been as powerful as Samael and Aeron had made him out to be.

As the man now stopped to stand beside Jared, who looked to his leader with what seemed like a hint of fear in his eyes, he stared into Samael's eyes.

"So, you've finally found somebody who you think could challenge me?" his fierce, commanding voice said to his old rival.

"Not just somebody to challenge you, Keir," Samael said with confidence, "But somebody to defeat you."

Now the man name Keir took his turn observing Mike, who could feel his legs trembling as he was looked up and down. "So you're who Samael chose to play Frontier Haven's great savior, huh...?" he jeered at Mike, who was struggling to keep his confident face on, "Man, it looks like he really picked a dud this time..."

More laughter came from Jared and the rest of the men behind Keir as he grinned widely. Clearly, he loved to get his followers riled up to discourage his opponent before the duel had even begun.

"Go ahead and laugh."

This comment from Mike seemed to suddenly subdue the guffaws coming from Keir's men as they were silenced, listening to Mike press on in his trembling voice: "I may know nothing about how you duel... and I may or may not be strong enough to take you down..."

Now Mike stared Keir directly in the eye as he said, "But I'll be damned if I let you get away with pushing around the people of Frontier Haven any longer! No one should have to live their lives in fear!"

This took Keir, Jared, Aeron, and especially Samael aback. The latter could remember how he'd told Mike that he couldn't duel the same way as he did for his friends if he wanted to win—that he had to fight for himself to survive. But now, it looked to him that this boy had found another way to look at this duel: he wasn't going to fight for himself, but for the people of Frontier Haven; the same way he'd used to fight for his friends.

Keir now wiped the look of bewilderment from his face as his expression returned to a sneer. "Well, say what you want, kid..." he coldly shot back at Mike as they both now took out their revolver-duel disks, "But this isn't one of your typical playground duels. Get ready for the fight of your life!"

Mike could feel his confidence fading as Keir then pulled out the same long, steel cable that Aeron had first pulled on him from his duster, throwing it towards Mike so that the cuff at the end of it latched onto Mike's left arm, eliminating the latter's last and only chance to run away from this duel.

The last of Mike's conviction now slipped away as Keir attached the other end of the cable to his own duel disk arm. There was no way to hide his fear from him or anyone else now. On the sidelines, Samael stood beside Aeron, who could see that Mike's eyes were still the same as they'd been before he'd given him his new deck: filled with the fear of a boy who had strayed far out of his league.

Casey, who had slipped her way to the front of the Frontier Haven crowd, watched on with an intense gaze as she put a hand over where she could feel her heart pulsating. She'd only felt as nervous as she did now one other time in her life: the first time she'd ever had to fight for her life in this same town.

Now, Mike and Keir both attached their gun-shaped duel disks to their wrists. The barrels on each of them expanded to allow the monster, spell, and trap zones to emerge. And as they both drew five cards, they finally cried out, "LET'S DUEL!"

 ** _\- FLASHBACK END -_**

* * *

Aeron reopened his eyes to see that Danny, as well as Marina and Violet, all had the same confounded expression on their faces.

"The fear in his eyes..." Aeron said as he looked into Danny's intense ones, "It was as clear to me as the fire that I see in yours right now—burning with the desire to become stronger."

Danny felt his teeth grinding as Aeron drew his next card. "They say that the strongest steel is crafted in the hottest of fires," he recited to his young opponent, "Your fire is hot, but you've yet to even begin tempering the steel.

"But I digress..." he changed the subject as he glanced at his hand for a moment before looking back up to his opponent, "I believe I've learned all I wanted to about you. And last I checked, we were in the middle of a duel."

"But I think it's time..." he said darkly as his eyes narrowed, as if locking onto Danny like he'd spotted his prey, "That I brought this to an end."

Danny's, Marina's, and Violet's eyes all went wide at this statement. He wasn't seriously about to end this duel right then and there, was he...?

"I'll start by activating my continuous spell card, Call of the Mummy," Aeron began as he activated the card, "With it, I can special summon one zombie-type monster from my hand when I control no monsters.

"So rise..." Aeron growled as a dark surge of energy burst from the Zombie World's depths behind him, "Despair from the Dark!"

 **[Despair from the Dark - LV: 8/ATK: 2800]**

Danny's jaw hung agape as he looked up at the powerful monster that towered over Aeron. He knew what it was like to summon a giant, towering monster like that from when he'd summoned Machina Force, but he'd never faced off against something like that on his own before.

"2800 ATK?!" Marina yelped as she watched on, "How is Danny supposed to defeat that thing?!"

"I don't know..." Violet replied as she took a step back, feeling her insides having a panic attack from the sight of this new monstrosity, "He's never been good at dealing with monsters with a lot of ATK strength..."

Danny, having overheard that, couldn't argue with Violet's statement. The basic monsters in his deck were already weak in ATK to begin with, and the only way he could ever originally think to gain supremacy in a duel was to summon Machina Force, since its ATK of 4600 was more than enough for almost any monster. But after watching Mike drain _all_ of his Force's ATK, along with completely overpowering his Fortress with a 5050 ATK monster, he'd realized that he needed to add something more to his deck than just an overwhelming brute force.

"Now I'll use the special ability of the Marionette Mite in my hand!" Aeron now explained as he discarded his monster; "By discarding it, I can take control over any monster on your field that's zombie-type.

"And if you remember..." Aeron's dark voice seemed to grow even more intimidating in this moment, "My Zombie World field spell makes every monster on the field zombie-type; which means your Machina Fortress is fair game!"

Everyone watched as the Fortress rolled its way off from Danny's field, over the bones and skulls of the zombie world that crunched beneath its wheels, making the girls on the sidelines cringe at the sound.

Danny watched on as his monster turned on him, not knowing what to do exactly aside from the one thing he _could_ do: "Since you targeted my Fortress for a monster effect," Danny retorted, trying to keep up his confidence, "I can use its effect to discard one random card in your hand!"

Aeron looked down to watch as one card vanished from his hand, but his unchanged expression gave Danny the impression that he was unscathed by this move.

"A meaningless effort," Aeron told him, "You had one chance to foil my plan, and it failed."

Danny's, Marina's, and Violet's eyes all widened at this as Aeron then went on, "Now I summon the Pain Painter Tuner monster!"

 **[Pain Painter - LV: 2/ATK: 400]**

"And with this monster, my victory is secured," Aeron told his young, terrified opponent, "Because with its effect, I can turn two zombie-type monsters on my field into LV 2 monsters! And since both my Despair and Machina Fortress are zombies, their levels will drop!"

 **[Despair from the Dark - LV: 2]**

 **[Machina Fortress - LV: 2]**

"And with that, I tune my LV 2 zombies with my LV 2 Pain Painter!" Aeron cried as the three monsters came together, "And in doing so, I bring forth my ultimate creature!"

The three monsters now morphed into a black, smoky portal, through which the most terrifying dragon they'd ever seen emerged through it and flew onto the field.

"Come forth..." Aeron cried out, "Doomkaiser Dragon!"

 **[Doomkaiser Dragon - LV: 6/ATK: 2400]**

Violet and Marina stood petrified in terror at the sight of this new monster. Never in either of their lives had they seen a more terrifying beast before. Danny, meanwhile, was swallowing hard as he took in the creature's features too, but then he realized a detail that didn't make sense to him:

"So you offered up a 2800 ATK monster, and a 2500 ATK monster..." he figured confusedly, "To summon out a weaker, 2400 ATK monster?!"

"This 'weaker' monster has more to offer than those other monsters ever did," Aeron explained to him, "For instance, upon its Synchro summoning, I can immediately bring back any one zombie-type monster from my opponent's graveyard to my side of the field!"

"Oh, c'mon!" Danny exclaimed exasperatedly as he, Violet and Marina now watched the Zombie World's ground before Aeron rupture in a burst of flurrying bones and skulls, all of which Marina flinched to avoid as the rusted Machina Fortress appeared on Aeron's field once more.

 **[Machina Fortress - LV: 7/ATK: 2500]**

"Now it's time that you felt your own monster's wrath!" Aeron cried out as he pointed towards Scrap Recycler, "Machina Fortress, destroy your former ally: Scrap Recycler!"

Machina Fortress now repeated the same attack that it had mounted against Aeron earlier: the large cannon mounted atop it took aim and fired a blast at Scrap Recycler, which exploded immediately on contact.

 **[Danny - LP: 6400]**

"And then," Aeron declared as he pointed towards Danny, "Doomkaiser Dragon will wage a direct attack on your LP!"

Doomkaiser Dragon's skeletal jaw unhinged itself before a blast of purple flames erupted from its depths, aimed straight at Danny.

"Danny!" Marina and Violet cried out at the same time as they watched the attack.

But Danny was in for more than just a holographic explosion of flames: when the seemingly-fake fires made contact with him, he found himself feeling the last thing he expected to: _pain_.

 _'What is this...?!'_ he wanted to cry out, but he couldn't find his words as he found himself screaming from the fires that had enveloped him, bringing him down to half of his original LP.

 **[Danny - LP: 4000]**

Now Marina and Violet were taking notice of Danny's suffering as they realized what was happening. From where they stood, the fires looked just like any other holographic fire they'd ever seen in a duel before. But what they'd never felt before was actual _heat_ being emitted from said flames like these ones were doing.

The dragon's purple flames died down as the attack ended, and Danny was forced onto one knee. His red hoodie was now decorated with a few scorch marks, while the seams from his ripped jeans were slightly singeing.

 _'How the hell's he doing this...?!'_ raced through Danny's mind as he forced himself to stand again, 'The _damage... is real...?!'_

"I'm afraid I'm nowhere near finished with you just yet," Aeron cut into his thoughts, making Danny's eyes go wide as he looked to his opponent with shock, "Now I activate my face down card: Assault Mode Activate!"

Danny could have sworn his heart had stopped in this moment as Aeron explained, "With this, my Doomkaiser Dragon will now evolve into a new form unlike anything you've ever seen before!"

Danny, Marina, and Violet all watched as Aeron's dragon suddenly underwent an alarming transformation: its chest had formed into a terrifying, skeletal face, and skeletal arms were protruding from its sides as the dragon gave a loud roar, either out of triumph or from the pain of transforming in the way that it was.

"Now be born...!" Aeron cried out as his dragon's mutation reached its completion, "Doomkaiser Dragon/Assault Mode!"

 **[Doomkaiser Dragon/Assault Mode - LV: 8/ATK: 2900]**

Danny could barely find it in himself to breathe as fear completely overtook him. This dragon, which was already intimidating-looking and had nearly burned him alive, had just transformed into something even more horrifying. And what was worse: it was a _new_ monster on Aeron's field, which meant that it would be able to attack.

"Your troubles don't end there, however."

Aeron's voice cut into the depths of Danny's fear-filled mind, bringing Danny's attention back to the duel as Aeron now explained: "Despite the fact that Machina Fortress was destroyed with the departing of my dragon's previous form—" Machina Fortress now sunk back into the skeletal depths of the Zombie World once more, "—his evolved state has an ability that more than makes up for it: upon its special summoning, I can revive as many zombie-type monsters from _either_ player's graveyards as I want!

"And as I've reminded you, my Zombie World makes _all_ of the monsters in your graveyard appropriate targets!" Aeron cried out as the ground before him once again burst open, this time creating an even larger fissure than before as a multitude of monsters joined his evolved dragon on the field: his Despair from the Dark, and Danny's Machina Fortress, Green Gadget, and Red Gadget.

 **[Despair from the Dark - LV: 8/ATK: 2800]**

 **[Machina Fortress - LV: 7/ATK: 2500]**

 **[Green Gadget - LV: 4/ATK: 1400]**

 **[Red Gadget - LV: 4/ATK: 1300]**

Danny was now completely petrified as he stared at the lineup of monsters opposing him. Aeron had amassed an army of monsters whose combined ATK exceeded 10,000 points. And Danny was absolutely defenseless.

"This is the end," Aeron now declared the final move of the game, "All of my monsters, unleash your fury and end this duel!"

The five gathered monsters all made their assaults: the Green and Red Gadgets each took turns punching Danny in the stomach, which he thankfully didn't feel any pain from. Then there was Despair from the Dark, which sent its giant fist hurling down at Danny, which upon collision only passed right through him, leaving him unharmed yet again. Then there was Machina Fortress's attack, which blasted him with a beam that, while intense to his eyes, still didn't harm him, thankfully.

But then came the final attack from Doomkaiser Dragon/Assault Mode: just like its last form had done, the dragon's jaw unhinged and let loose a wildfire of purple flames at Danny, who began to writhe and scream in anguish as every pain receptor in his body went wild. The flames enveloped him and completely set his sleeveless jacket ablaze, forcing him to rip it off so that he didn't share in its bad luck of catching fire.

He was finally relieved of his pain as the dragon's flames ceased, and the Zombie World field faded away and returned to looking like the old construction yard, while the monsters on Aeron's field disappeared.

 **[Danny – LP: 0]**

 **[Winner: Aeron]**

"Danny!" Marina and Violet cried out as they ran over to their friend, who was a little wobbly as his head spun from the pain he'd just experienced. They each took hold of one of his arms before he toppled over in his daze, keeping him standing up as he struggled to regain his composure.

"Danny! Are you alright?!" Marina asked him hurriedly, the sheer and utter worry clear in her voice.

After a few moments, Danny finally shook his head clear of the dizziness before looking to each of the girls in turn, saying, "It's alright, I'm good."

"You sure?" Marina asked him as they released his arms, letting him stand on his own before he looked to her as he chuckled.

"C'mon, you know me," he said with amusement, which earned a roll of the eyes from Marina, as though she were thinking, _'He almost gets burned to death, and he's SMILING...?'_

Now Danny looked over to Aeron with a bemused stare. "Alright, much as that duel was awesome, you've got some explaining to do," he said sternly as he pointed at his victorious opponent, "Why the hell was that damage real?"

Aeron saw all three sets of eyes from the trio of friends looking to him with puzzled glares. Clearly, none of them were big fans of his now after he'd nearly cremated Danny, which he didn't blame them for in the slightest.

He let out a heavy sigh before saying, "You have my sincerest of apologies. I never intended to use my powers on you during this duel."

He went silent as he turned his head away in what looked like shame as Danny's face lit up with confusion. "What powers...?" he asked as he lowered his arm.

"The power to make Duel Monsters, and the damage they inflict, real," Aeron explained, "The curse that I've borne for as long as I can remember."

All three friends' eyebrows had risen in ultimate surprise as Aeron continued, "Unfortunately, I've never had the best luck with restraining it. I didn't expect that it to come out during a short duel like this one, believe me."

"And you think that makes it okay that you just nearly burned one of our friends alive?!" Marina shot at him outrageously, "You really think you can do that and just expect an apology to—?!"

"Chill out, Marina."

Marina was stunned silent as she and Violet looked to Danny, bewildered by what their friend had just said as he now made his way to approach Aeron.

"Way I see it," he continued on, "I'm still alive, so I don't see any reason to hold a grudge against you if it really was an accident."

Aeron cocked his head curiously as Danny then began to approach him, while Violet's and Marina's faces remained dumbfound as their friend said, "And besides, you're a friend of Mike's, right? So I can trust you when you say that you didn't mean it."

"After all," Danny stopped in front of Aeron before then extending a hand to Aeron as a grin came to his face, "Any friend of Mike's is a friend of mine, too."

Aeron cracked what looked like a small half-smile before accepting Danny's handshake. Marina crossed her arms, not sure how the boy she supposedly cared for could even consider forgiving a man who had nearly turned him into a pile of ashes; especially when he'd been so aggressive against the stranger earlier. Violet, on the other hand, just shook her head while smiling at how Danny was always able to look to the brighter side of life; a trait he'd never lost since she'd met him in sixth grade.

Now, as Danny brought his hand down from its handshake with Aeron, he caught a glimpse of his wristwatch as he did so, which made his eyes widen in surprise as he realized what time it was:

"Hey, guys!" he wheeled around to look back at his female friends, "Guess what time it is?"

The two girls now took out their phones to see what Danny was talking about. Sure enough, the time read 5:57 PM—just about time for them to head out.

The girls replaced their phones in their pockets as they moved to stand beside Danny, who turned back to Aeron as he said to him, "We gotta head out. You got a place to stay while you wait for Mike?"

"Don't worry about me," Aeron assured them, "I'll be fine."

"If you say so..." said Danny as he then gave a small wave, "Well, see you 'round, Aeron. Later!"

And with that, Danny dashed back into the city towards his home. Now Marina looked up to Aeron with what seemed like a mild, suspicious glare as she said, "It was nice meeting you," before calmly following suit after Danny.

Aeron, whose eyes had followed both Danny and Marina each as they had left, now turned to Violet, who was staring down at the ground shyly.

"Something wrong?" he asked her.

Violet, only now realizing that she'd spaced out, now shook her head as she looked to Aeron. "I just..." she uttered softly, "Wanted to thank you."

Aeron raised an eyebrow in surprise at this remark. "For what?" he inquired.

"For telling me about Mike's feelings..." she answered honestly, her eyes glistening with tears of joy, unable to hide how emotional she was, "I've felt the same way about him for the longest time... ever since we were kids... but I've never been able to tell if he harbored the same feelings..."

Aeron was silent for a moment as Violet awaited his response. He was afraid that he might suddenly remember that he'd promised Mike to never tell Violet how he felt, and that he'd say something along the lines of, _'Don't get your hopes up,'_ or, _'He's too changed; you ought to stay away from him.'_

But instead, Aeron words were just the opposite: "Mike's been through more than his fair share of hard times throughout the last two years," he told Violet, "I think he deserves to be with someone who can make him happy, despite what he's been through. So don't hesitate to let him know how you feel."

Aeron's words felt like a breath of fresh air filling Violet's insides as she took them in. Now, she finally had the confidence to do what she'd been longing to for so many years.

"Alright," she said as she wiped the tears from her eyes, "Thanks, again."

Aeron just turned his head away, looking else ware as he nonchalantly answered, "Don't mention it."

Violet now stepped past him, his eyes following her as she walked back into the city. _'You really DO have good friends here, Mike...'_ he thought to himself with a small smile, _'I can see why you wanted to return home so badly, now.'_

Aeron turned back towards the trailer and began walking towards it. He figured that Mike would have to return to this spot eventually, so he had no problem waiting for him there if it took him a day. If he didn't show up by the following evening, then Aeron would have to go searching for Mike himself.

But unbeknownst to either Aeron or the three friends he'd just met, there was one person who'd been walking along the city streets that opened out to the construction yard that had noticed the interaction between the trio of teens and the dark, shady figure. He'd been standing there for the last ten minutes, watching everything that had unfolded between them—including when Danny had been set ablaze during the duel.

Now, the man pulled out his cell phone, dialing 9-1-1 as he eyed the red-caped man cautiously. "Yes, hello?" he said into his phone's receiver, "My name's Dr. Skeldon Crawford. I need to report an assault on a student of mine."

* * *

The time was 5:55 PM when Mike finally reached County Dame Pier, where he could hear seagulls cawing out over the distant waters nearby.

As he walked onto the scene, he found himself wrapping his coat even tighter around himself to keep the cold atmosphere from freezing him. Despite the fact that June was just around the corner, the evenings were still cold enough that they called for extra help keeping warm. And the fact that the ocean was spraying against the concrete sides of the nearby docks didn't help either; in fact, not only did it make the area colder, but it even created a thin shroud of mist that immersed the entirety of the Pier.

But these were only minor nuisances to Mike. At this point, the only concern he had to worry about was whether or not he'd missed Louis Costanzo. The clock would soon turn into the 6 PM hour, when the docks were supposed to close.

Now he walked out onto the concrete docks, taking in his surroundings: to his left, large cargo crates were stacked one on top of the other in a neat fashion, next to a large crane machine that must have been what lifted the heavy, metal containers. The ocean next to that harbored a large, rusted freight ship, upon which was a vast assortment of cargo crates just like the ones already on land. He could hear the voices of workers shouting to each other on board the ship. To his right, the docks extended further out into the ocean, upon which a number of identical warehouses were aligned side-by-side with small gaps between them. Many of their large, slide-up doors that were marked numerically were sealed shut, but a few of them were either slightly agape or completely ajar too.

Straight in front of him, there was what must have been the small operations base where business was conducted. A short, stocky man wearing a yellow, reflective vest over his dirtied work clothes stood leaning against the wall of the small building, scanning the information on whatever papers were on the clipboard in his hands. His bald head was protected with a neon-yellow hardhat, and his slightly aged face made Mike estimate that the man was somewhere in his late forties.

Mike now made his way to approach the man, who took notice of his presence as he looked up from his clipboard with narrowed eyes.

"Can I help you with something?" he asked, though his tone implied that he wasn't in any position to trust this covered-up stranger.

"I'm looking for somebody who works here," Mike said simply, "Name's Louis Costanzo. You wouldn't happen to be able to bring me to him, would you?"

The dock worker's "I'm-not-trusting-this-guy" expression now seemed to vanish from his face, as if he were relieved to learn that this stranger wasn't there for him. "Ah, Louis?" he repeated the name as he scratched the back of his head thoughtfully, "I don't _think_ he's clocked out yet. Hold on..."

He turned his body towards the right, bellowing out in that direction: "HEY, LOUIS! SOMEONE HERE TO SEE YOU!"

There was a long pause as Mike and the man waited for a response of some kind. But after a few moments quickly turned into a minute of utter silence, the dock worker scrunched up his face as he turned back to Mike. "Yeah, he might not be able to hear me. He works in those warehouses all day; keeps tabs on inventory and such. You can go try and find him if you want. Should be in number thirteen."

"Thanks," said Mike before he turned towards the dock's extension, walking down towards the warehouses as he felt his pulse begin to quicken.

He was literally steps away from finding one of the guys who'd taken Casey from him. He didn't know what to expect, but he at least felt like he was prepared for the worst with his revolver-duel disk hidden at his side, should this Louis Costanzo character put up some kind of fight, or refuse to tell him what he wanted to know.

Now he was approaching warehouse number thirteen, the door of which was completely open as he stepped inside. "Hello?" his voice echoed against the steel walls of the building, "Anyone in here?"

No response.

 _'Lovely,'_ Mike thought sarcastically.

It was in this moment that he realized: the entirety of the warehouse was unusually dark, as the lights hanging from the ceiling high above were either off or flickering dimly. That immediately set him on-edge—no one in their right mind worked in a place like this with barely any light, much less didn't respond to the calling of someone else.

The entirety of the space was filled with cargo crates of various shapes and sizes, making the entirety of the place somewhat like a maze. Mike figured he would start from the left side of the warehouse and make his way over to the right as he searched, as it beat just wandering around aimlessly and hoping he ran into him. Thankfully, most of the large cargo crates were positioned to allow for easy maneuvering around, so he was able to breeze through the warehouse within minutes.

But when he finally rounded a corner as he searched along the right side of the warehouse, the sight before his eyes shook him right to his core: there was the man, who must have been Louis Costanzo, wearing the same yellow reflective vest as the dock worker from earlier over the same kind of work clothes, and wearing the same, yellow hardhat.

And he was lying _dead_ in the center of the walkway. _In a large pool of blood._

Mike immediately rushed his way over and knelt down next to the corpse. Louis's eyes were still opened, petrified in the shocked expression that they must've turned to just before his death. There were multiple stab wounds scattered across his chest, which explained how the puddle of blood he was lying it was so massive.

Mike felt himself going into panic mode as his mind raced. There was only _one_ person who could've told him what had happened to Casey, and now that one person was dead.

Now Mike did the one reasonable thing he _could_ do: scour the dead man's pockets. If Louis Costanzo himself wouldn't be able to tell Mike where Casey was, perhaps there was a chance that something on his person might be able to tell him what he needed to know.

But among all of the pockets, he only found one thing in the man's right-hand jacket pocket—a small, folded up piece of paper that, inside, read:

 ** _We have her._**

 ** _The Romans_**

Mike felt his heart virtually stop as he read this; his hands shook to the point that they nearly lost their grip on the short note. He could've sworn that he'd put a permanent end to the Romans well over a year ago, and he'd personally run out all of the remaining, living members out of Frontier Haven and Saddleburry.

 _'What does this mean...?'_ he thought frantically as he continued staring at the lifeless body before him, _'Could it be that—?'_

"The hell's goin' on here?!"

Mike's thoughts were interrupted as he swiveled to see the man he'd met outside on the docks, standing at the other end of the walkway between the cargo crates, looking on at the sight of Mike kneeling down next to the lifeless form of his co-worker.

His eyes locked with Mike's as his face filled with panic, before he took out a walkie-talkie from his pocket as he rushed: "Attention all units! There's been a murder in warehouse thirteen! Call the—!"

The dock worker was cut off as his walkie-talkie suddenly burst into pieces in his hand, startling him as he stumbled backwards onto the ground. He looked over to Mike, whose revolver-duel disk was now smoking from its muzzle as he aimed it.

Now Mike replaced the revolver-duel disk back in its holster before charging swiftly at the dock worker, kneeling down onto his chest before landing a punch to his face that left the priorly-dazed man unconscious. He didn't need the man to watch him as he got away to tell whoever else showed up where he'd gone.

He sprinted his way through the door of the warehouse, taking a hard left as he ran his way through gap between the warehouse he was just in and the next one over. On the other side, he could see the edge of the concrete dock where it met the ocean. With no other options in front of him, it looked to Mike that this was only ending one way: the moment he'd reached the edge of the dock, he dove straight into the ocean, disappearing beneath the dark waters.

The moment he made it at least twenty feet beneath the ocean's surface, he began immediately shedding any of the excess clothes that he didn't need. While his hat had already flown off of him the moment he'd jumped into the sea, he struggled as he ripped off of himself the large coat, the glasses, the gloves, and the hair elastic—all of the things that had been part of his disguise, as well as everything on him that he didn't need dragging him down to the bottom of the ocean and drowning him. The only things he kept were his clothes, shoes, the holster with his revolver-duel disk, and his actual duel disk upon his arm, which he couldn't believe that his making it completely waterproof had come in handy so soon.

Now Mike swam his way back up, breaking through the surface of the water with a large gasp as he looked around to check that no one had seen him. Thankfully, it seemed that the remaining dock workers hadn't picked up his trail, as he could hear them all yelling and shouting madly at the sight of their two co-workers behind the wall of warehouses.

But then, a familiar noise echoed from further down the road going the other way that set him on edge: police sirens.

Mike growled to himself, beginning to get sick of his run of bad luck. The dock workers must have called the cops by now, and they were on their way to come and investigate the scene of Louis Costanzo's dead body, as well as the other dock worker that Mike had left unconscious. And if his luck wasn't getting any better, those cops would eventually spot him emerging from the ocean, and take him in for questioning as to why he'd decided to go for an evening swim in the sea nearby the scene of the crime with a _gun_ strapped to his waist. There was no coming up with an alibi for that. The most he could do now was keep himself in the water, and pray to whatever divine beings would listen that the cops wouldn't notice him floating around in the dark.

However, it turned out that none of these premonitions of his came to fruition: instead, the sirens that had only gotten louder and louder as they'd approached suddenly became quieter and quieter, as though they'd just passed by the scene at the docks without paying it any mind at all.

Mike finally forced himself out of the ocean as he stumbled onto the sandy beach, his shoes now making squishing noises with every step he took. He looked down the road to see that, sure enough, two squad cars were racing their way towards the main city.

He now managed to get back onto the road, before taking off in a sprint after the cop cars as he thought, _'I've got a bad feeling about this...'_

* * *

 **Next Time**

 **Chapter 8: "Marks - Part 1"**

* * *

 **Recommended Works**

 ** _White TV Room,_** **by iAnneart** \- _Ever wanted to know how the actual characters of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series would react if they saw their series ABRIDGED? Then this is a must-read! I swear to god, every time I read a new chapter of this, I die laughing at least two or three times. Seriously, if you love YGO Abridged, you gotta go read this thing. I promise that you won't be disappointed._

* * *

 ** _\- Last Revised: May 2, 2017 -_**


	8. Marks - Part 1

**Author's Notes**

 _So it's come to my attention that a number of you readers find it difficult to read through my intensely-long chapters. So starting with this chapter, I'm gonna begin implementing this new system: if, while writing a chapter, I feel it's going to exceed a reasonable length, I'll split the chapter into two halves; this way, I can put out more chapters more frequently, and you guys don't have to read through an even bigger wall of text than I usually put out._

 _Then, in every NEW chapter that's the second half of a part-two chapter, I'll place a few of the paragraphs from the end of the last part to kinda flash you back to the last chapter, to remind you of what's going on. And from there, we'll get into the second half as if there was never a break at all, so that it all flows naturally. Once the next chapter after that comes out, I'll delete that part._

* * *

 **Yu-Gi-Oh! Mark of Death**

 **Chapter 8: "Marks - Part 1"**

 **Opening Theme: "Raining" by Art Of Dying**

 **Ending Theme: "Behind Blue Eyes" by Limp Bizkit**

* * *

Nighttime had fallen upon County Dame within the hour that it'd taken Mike to get back to Bulbous's apartment.

By then, his legs felt like jelly, and his heart seemed like it was threatening to go into cardiac arrest on him. Despite the fact that he'd made numerous lengthy trips across desert sands over the last two years, he'd never forced himself to run nearly the entire length of the whole city before. It was all the more reason why he'd slowed his pace down to a slow walk for the last ten minutes of his journey back to the apartment at the north side of the city.

But he at least had plenty of time to mull over the events that had occurred within the last hour; although his thoughts weren't able to come to a logical conclusion on any of them. For one thing, it was absurd to him that someone could have known that Mike was going after Louis Costanzo that day, just so that someone could go and assassinate him before Mike reached him first, and then leave a note in the dead man's pocket for him to find. But then again, after meeting all of the people he had in Frontier Haven over the last two years, it didn't stand as too hard for him to believe that there was _someone_ out there with that much forethought and cunning.

And then there was the note itself... signed by the "Romans." That had been perhaps the most jarring revelation he'd had in a long time. If the one who had stolen Casey from Louis Costanzo and his partner had formed some kind of new gang under that name, then Mike had a whole new set of worries on his shoulders. The intentions of that group had been twisted and sadistic back then, so he could only imagine what their aim was this time. The most he could figure out at this point was that whoever was running the gang now clearly had a serious grudge against Mike to go to all the trouble of stealing Casey away from him again.

Now, as he rode his way up the elevator of Bulbous's apartment building, he did his best to push those thoughts out of his mind for the time being. Until he got in contact with Aeron again, the best thing he could do for the time being was prevent himself from drawing any conclusions on an assumption that would urge him to make a potentially rash decision.

As the elevator doors opened up for him on his floor's landing, he stepped out into the hall towards Bulbous's apartment. He couldn't hear it as much anymore, but he could still feel the squishiness of his waterlogged shoes with every step he took. The fact that he'd taken a dip in the ocean before breaking into a run to get home hadn't helped him in the slightest. He'd probably felt at least five different types of discomfort all over his body thanks to his wet clothes during the travel home, but at least they, as well as his hair, had mostly dried by the time he'd finally made it back.

He stumbled his way through the door into Bulbous's apartment, shutting the door behind him as he exhaled loudly in his relief to be home before he heard a familiar voice call out from the kitchen: "Dad? Is that you?"

"Not quite..." Mike replied with a pant.

It only took a moment before the owner of the voice, Violet, rounded the corner of the kitchen entryway to face Mike, her face filled with shock and her eyes wide with happiness as they met his. "Oh my god, Mike!" she shrieked in excitement as she ran up to him, catching him in an embrace, "Where have you been?! I was worried about you!"

But before she could get an answer to that, her face suddenly scrunched up in disgust as she realized how damp his clothes were and how he smelled. She backed away from him as she scanned him up and down curiously, asking, "And why are you all wet, and smelling like ocean...?"

Mike could only roll his eyes at this remark before he said, "Never mind about that. Long story."

He now brushed by her as she continued to follow him with a confused gaze. He settled himself on the couch before picking up the TV remote, using it to turn the small box in front of him on, and tuning it to the news channel. He needed to check and see if he could find out what had happened in the city that he'd seen the cops racing towards when they'd sped right by the scene of Louis Costanzo's murder at the pier.

As the news channel came on talking about sports, Violet walked over and gave Mike a questioning look. She'd been hoping that, with her dad out doing whatever it was he was doing, they would be able to have some time alone so that she finally tell him how her feelings. She'd been planning out every last word that she wanted to say during her walk home from the construction site, right after the small conversation with Aeron that had encouraged her to finally confess.

But at this point, she was beginning to realize that maybe she'd been preparing the perfect moment for the wrong time. She'd forgotten—in her excitement—the whole reason that Mike had been out for the entire day in the first place; he'd been searching for somebody who had kidnapped one of his friends from over the last two years. It was no wonder he'd looked so serious and tired when he'd walked in.

Speaking of Mike, he now turned to look up at Violet for a moment as he asked, "Did you hear anything about the cops coming through County Dame in a rush earlier?"

More confusion spread across Violet's face as she held a hand to her chin thoughtfully. "No, I haven't—"

 **"This just in!"**

Violet's voice trailed off just as the news channel suddenly switched from its sports segment into a breaking news flash. Mike immediately turned his full attention to the screen, as did Violet while the news lady spoke:

 **"A man going by the name 'Aeron Mortimer' was arrested earlier this evening, charged with assaulting a student from Dexterity High School."**

Violet was petrified with shock as she watched Mike's eyes widen to a point that didn't even seem humanly possible. Her plan of telling Mike how she truly felt about him had involved telling him about Aeron's earlier meeting with her, Danny, and Marina, but she hadn't intended on telling him about the duel that Aeron and Danny had waged. Instead, she'd only planned on mentioning that Aeron had told her the truth about how Mike felt towards her.

The news lady continued: **"Security camera footage caught in the abandoned construction site downtown shows how the man's Duel Monster hologram was apparently able to set the high school student** ** _on_** ** _fire_** **with its attack."**

Mike's eyes were glued to the screen now; his expression was more serious than Violet had ever seen on him before, and it frightened her to see him like this.

 **"We managed to get a hold of the security tape to show viewers, but we have to warn you: the footage shown may be disturbing."**

Sure enough, the screen turned to a black and white video of Aeron, with his Doomkaiser Dragon/Assault Mode looming overhead, along with his army of other assorted monsters assembled in front of him, as he declared for his dragon to attack. The dragon's jaw unhinged, letting loose its fiery breath that immersed itself around Aeron's opponent, who began writhing in pain as he struggled to stay standing.

"How long has that security camera been there...?" Violet asked, trying to sound inconspicuous.

But Mike had ignored her question. He kept his eyes transfixed on Aeron's opponent who was being set ablaze. Despite his back being turned and the video being in black and white, Mike could tell exactly who the sleeveless hoodie-wearing opponent was as his jaw hung slightly open in realization.

"Danny..." he uttered under his breath.

 **"Dr. Skeldon Crawford—Dexterity High's Principal—made the call to 9-1-1 after witnessing the attack."**

Mike and Violet both went wide-eyed at this detail. Their own principal had seen the duel and called for Aeron's arrest? He'd had to have seen the duel from a little ways away in the inner city streets, where nobody would've seen him from the construction yard...

 **"Authorities have been unsuccessful in getting the man to give them anything else aside from his name,"** the news lady said, **"For his refusal to speak, Dr. Crawford has ordered that he be moved to Tallgate Prison in Crest City, where he will be incarcerated until the investigation into this incident reaches a conclusion."**

Mike shut the television off, setting the remote aside before burying his face in his hands. Violet could only watch him with despair in her eyes, not knowing how to comfort him in a situation like this. What could anyone do to comfort the one they loved when they'd just found out that one of their close friends had been arrested for hurting another of their close friends? Considering the abnormality of the circumstances, Violet couldn't think of an answer to that for the life of her.

Now Mike slid his face back up and let his hands hold his head. The look on his face was the ultimate mix of distress and confusion. It only made Violet's heart sink more just seeing him like that.

"Violet..." he finally managed to find his voice, "Why was Danny dueling that man?"

Violet could feel the pressure as Mike's question fell on her like a weight. She had hoped that she would never have had to explain this incident to Mike if he'd gotten to see that Danny was alive and well first, before letting him take the responsibility of breaking that story to Mike himself to make sure he knew everything was okay.

Finally, with a deep breath, she explained, "That man... Aeron... he came looking for you... and he found me, Marina, and Danny at the construction site instead."

Mike kept his eyes focused on her as she went on, trembling slightly as she did so: "We didn't know where you were... so he wanted to get to know us instead... and that led to him and Danny dueling; and then... well, you saw what happened..."

"Right," Mike said in understanding as he looked to the floor, processing what he'd just heard as his expression darkened.

"I'm sorry, Mike..." Violet said immediately as she sat herself down next to Mike, looking to him imploringly as she spoke, "I should've told you about this immediately, but..."

Her voice trailed off as Mike now met her eyes, placing a comforting hand on her back. "It's fine," he assured her, "Don't beat yourself up over it."

Violet managed to give Mike a grateful half-smile. It seemed like every time she thought that she couldn't love him any more than she already did, she was always able to find something else about him that she couldn't help but adore.

Mike now turned away as he looked back at the television that he'd just turned off. "What I don't get is how Dr. Crawford is able to make the decision to sentence Aeron to prison..." he mused, "I mean, he shouldn't have that kind of power, right? He's just a high school principal."

"Who also happens to also be on the Mayor's Council for County Dame," Violet corrected him, "That makes him a city official, and they have leverage over just about everything."

Mike's expression turned to slight confusion. "Since when has he been a city official?" he asked.

"A lot more's changed over the last two years than you probably realize," was Violet's reply.

Mike ground his teeth. At least now it made sense how Dr. Crawford and Mr. Copperson appeared to have some kind of working relationship with each other.

Now Violet watched as Mike stood himself from the couch, making his way towards his room as the former asked, "What're you doing?"

"Changing," Mike answered instantly as he shut the door behind him, "I've gotta go try and stop them from putting Aeron away."

Violet's eyes widened with surprise at these words. " _What?_ " she said in a shell-shocked manner, standing from the couch as well as she now went to stand in front of Mike's door, "You can't be serious!"

"It's like you said: it was an accident," was Mike's retort from behind his room's door, "I can't just let them take him away if it was an accident."

"And what do you think you can do to change their minds?!" Violet pressed, unable to believe that she was even having this discussion with Mike now.

"I'll figure that part out when I get there," Mike said as he now emerged from his room; he was now freshly dressed in his jeans, black t-shirt, and short-sleeved jacket, and his duel disk was still attached to his left arm.

Violet shook her head at Mike's answer as he made a beeline for the apartment door, before she followed him close behind. "Well, as much as I think this is a bad idea, at least let me come with you," she shot at him insistently.

"You don't need to get yourself involved in this," he said as he turned to face her, his back just inches away from the apartment door now.

"I was there during the duel when it happened," she reminded him as their eyes locked, "I've probably got a better chance at convincing Dr. Crawford of Aeron's innocence than you do just by saying that he's your friend."

Mike just stared at Violet sternly, but she returned it with a look just as intense. For the first time, she felt like she could tell exactly what was going through his mind: he didn't want her getting any closer to anything that involved his past two years, and would've preferred that she and the others had never met Aeron in the first place. But she still had the surge of confidence that her earlier talk with Aeron had given her; and if she wasn't about to use it to tell Mike how she really felt about him, then she figured she might as well use it for this:

"Look," she said rigidly, "Aeron's my friend now, too. So let me help you save him."

Mike's expression softened now, turning into one of slight amazement as he looked into Violet's hard, silver eyes. He'd never seen Violet act like this before, so it took him a moment to digest this new side of her. Violet swallowed hard as she awaited Mike's response; she'd never stood up to anybody aside from her father before, much less succeeded in doing so.

But it looked like she'd had her first victory as, finally, Mike finally sighed before flashing a small smile. "Alright," he finally agreed, "Let's go."

Violet returned the smile before the two of them exited through the apartment door, which shut itself behind them.

* * *

The night was quiet outside of County Dame's police precinct as six officers in blue uniforms stepped their way outside, aligning themselves along the stairway leading down to the city sidewalk from the building. Following them, two more cops emerged from the large, stone structure, each holding an arm of the red-caped man they were escorting out behind his back. Dexterity High School's principal, Dr. Crawford, slowly followed suit, walking down the steps towards the street as they made their way towards the large, armored truck that was for prisoner transport. Tucked beneath Dr. Crawford's left arm was a small box, which was full of Aeron's confiscated belongings.

Despite the fact that Aeron's hands were handcuffed behind his back, Dr. Crawford had insisted that there be at least two guards keeping a hold of him throughout his escorts, so that there was no way the man would be able to spring any surprise escape attempts on them. Because of Aeron's refusal to talk, Dr. Crawford had been unsuccessful in learning how he'd made his Duel Monster's damage real, so he had no way of telling what this man was capable of—either on the duel field, or off.

As the two cops that were escorting Aeron had him step up into the back of the armored truck, Dr. Crawford watched on with vigilant eyes, looking to see for himself if this red-caped character was going to try anything funny. But he remained exactly as he'd been the entirety of the time he'd been in custody: calm, cooperative, and in no way trying to resist the authority that had taken him captive. He hadn't even put up any resistance when the cops had initially pulled up to arrest him; he'd just immediately surrendered himself, let the cops cuff him and take away his possessions, and did everything that they told him to do.

As Aeron sat himself down on the bench inside of the large truck, Dr. Crawford now stepped forward and approached the door, looking to the man he'd had arrested. "You sure you don't wanna talk?" he offered one last time, "It'd make things a whole lot easier on you."

Aeron remained unmoving, but his eyes flickered towards Dr. Crawford for a moment. There was no emotion or message that the latter could read in the crimson orbs; instead, for whatever reason, the man's impregnable stare only managed to send shivers down his spine. He'd been giving everybody around him that same kind of vibe ever since he'd been apprehended, whether they had looked into his eyes or not. But to Dexterity High's principal, this stare felt like it was injecting that very feeling that Aeron emitted right into his bloodstream with a syringe.

Dr. Crawford forced himself to shut his eyes so he could break eye contact, which instantly relieved him of his chills. "Very well..." he muttered, doing his best to hide how unnerved he really was as he turned to the officers, "Get him out of here."

The officers nodded, and two of them slammed the large doors of the truck before circling around it to the front, before a young man's voice echoed at them from down the road: "Hold on!"

All of the officers stopped and joined Dr. Crawford in looking to where the voice had originated, but what they saw surprised them all: there was Mike, as well as Violet, sprinting towards them as fast as they could.

Dr. Crawford's eyebrows knit together as the two teenagers finally came to a halt in front of him, breathing heavily from how fast they'd just been running. Mike in particular looked especially winded, but the look in his ocean-blue eyes was filled with a lively fire that he was unused to seeing in him.

"Mr. Harper; Ms. Alyssum..." he addressed them both formally as the cops behind him waited to hear his next command, "While it's a pleasant surprise to see you both, I'm afraid this isn't exactly a situation that either of you should be involving yourselves in."

"Dr. Crawford, that man is a friend of mine." Mike cut straight to the chase as Aeron now turned his head, watching the scenario unfold behind the steel doors, "I swear to you that he's innocent."

Dr. Crawford stared back at his old patient intensely for a moment, before shaking his head as he exhaled. "I should've known you'd come to this man's defense..." he said, "Considering that he was armed with _this_..."

He now reached into the box that was tucked under his arm, from which he pulled out Aeron's holster that held his revolver-duel disk. Mike's eyes narrowed when he saw it, while Violet's eyes widened with surprise.

Now Dr. Crawford put the holster back in the box as he said, "As soon as I saw that this was on him, I knew where he had to have come from.

"But whether he's your friend or not..." he stood at full height again as he looked at Mike and Violet, "He's nowhere near as innocent as you claim. He set one of my students _on fire_."

"Please, Dr. Crawford..." Violet now spoke up as she put her hands together pleadingly, "I was there; I saw the duel! It was an accident!"

"You might wanna listen to her!"

Mike, Violet, Dr. Crawford, and the gathered officers now turned their heads again as yet another surprise duo came into their sights: this time, it was Danny and Marina walking towards them, each with serious expressions on their faces.

"Mr. Stark; Ms. Livesey..." he greeted them as sheer confusion now spread across his face, "What are you two doing here?"

"What, it isn't obvious?" Danny retorted with exasperation at his principal's question, "Everyone saw the news earlier!

"And in case you didn't know," Danny now used his right thumb to point at himself as he explained, " _I_ was the guy dueling Aeron in that recording, so I'm here to say that the whole setting-me-on-fire thing was an accident! And one that I forgave him for, too!"

"And I witnessed it all, too," Marina volunteered, "So I can vouch for him when I tell you that that's the truth."

Mike and Violet now turned their gazes back on Dr. Crawford, who felt the pressure of their stares weighing on the back of his neck. Squaring his shoulders, he said, "Be that as it may, I cannot allow for a man who could present a potential threat to the citizens of this city to roam free."

He eyed Danny as he continued, "You know what he's capable of, and so do I. The police even collected your burnt-up blazer from the scene as evidence of his capabilities."

Danny's face suddenly lit up with remembrance, as if he'd suddenly thought, _'Oh, so THAT'S where my blazer went...'_

Marina, standing next to him, could only shake her head disappointingly at her crush's lack of wit.

Violet, meanwhile, now looked to Mike, who heaved an aggravated sigh as he watched Dr. Crawford turn to face the officers that had been awaiting his next orders patiently. "Carry on," he said commandingly, which prompted the officers to continue what they had just barely started earlier as two of them continued making their ways towards the front of the armored truck while the others closed the rear doors. Inside, Aeron closed his eyes as he looked away from the doors, as if he had already reconciled with his fate.

"Wait."

The sudden breaking of the silence by Mike's voice had everyone's eyes turn to him again, the officers stopping their activity once more. Dr. Crawford had an eyebrow raised in surprise as he eyed Mike, whose intense glare had returned and fixated itself on Dexterity High's principal.

"Dr. Crawford, please..." Mike now begged, "You don't know this man like I do. And I know that he'd never purposefully harm one of my friends, much less anybody else in this city. If you can't trust him... then trust me."

Danny, Marina, and Violet held their breath as Dr. Crawford just looked at Mike with a bewildered stare, unable to believe that his old patient wasn't letting this go. He'd always known that Mike had been stubborn—from the way he'd never let the death of his parents go—but this was just asinine to him.

"It's like I just said," Dr. Crawford said, "Even if this man is your friend, and even if he would never harm anybody in this city... what's to stop him from harming anyone else in any other city? Even _inadvertently_ , if this was an accident like you and your friends claim?"

Mike had nothing to come back with to that remark. Being at a loss for words frustrated him to no end, but not being able to save a friend sat even worse in his mind. He was on the verge of watching Aeron—his longtime mentor and ally—get taken away to a prison where he'd never see the light of day again.

And if he was going to save him, it was clear there was only one last way he might be able to do so:

"If you don't take my word for it..." Mike said as he pointed a challenging finger at Dr. Crawford, "Then I'll challenge you to a duel!"

Danny, Marina, and Violet each went wide-eyed at this suggestion as Mike explained: "If I win, then Aeron goes free, and all charges against him are dropped."

Everyone else couldn't believe what they'd just heard come out of Mike's mouth. Even Aeron, who was still able to hear everything outside of the truck, was now watching through the small windows in the truck's back doors, his eyes just as wide as everyone else's.

But no one was as surprised as Dr. Crawford in this moment. Mike was really pulling out all of the stops just to try and save this man that he'd deemed too dangerous to walk among the rest of humanity. He knew that his old patient wouldn't go to such great lengths if he didn't truly believe that Aeron ought to have remained a free man.

Finally, Dr. Crawford adjusted his glasses as he spoke: "Very well... but stakes that heavy on just one side isn't agreeable.

"So if _I_ win this duel..." Dr. Crawford lowered his arm as his tone turned noticeably dourer, "Then I'll have you _also_ arrested, charged with being an accessory to the crime; and you'll be incarcerated alongside your friend in Tallgate Prison."

"Deal," Mike immediately agreed.

Danny, Marina, and Violet's jaws all dropped as they stared at Mike with disbelief, while Dr. Crawford nodded in acknowledgment before turning to one of the officers nearby. "Go inside and fetch me a duel disk, won't you?" he requested casually.

The cop he had spoken to only nodded before running back inside the precinct. At the same time, Danny now made his way to get in Mike's face as he growled at him frustratedly, "Um, HELLO?! Are you insane?! This is a terrible idea!"

"Danny's right, Mike," Marina chided as well as she moved to his side, "These stakes are just way too high. What if you lose?"

Mike took in his friends' words before turning to Violet, who apparently didn't have anything else to add. From the sad, stricken expression on her face, it was clear to Mike that she would've said the same things as Danny and Marina. But the look in her eyes gave her message one very distinctive difference: she was terrified—beyond anything else—of having to watch the boy she loved get taken away.

Now Mike extended a hand out to Danny, gently pushing him out of his personal space. "You guys ought to understand," he finally spoke, "Aeron is as close of a friend to me as all of you are. Were any of you in his position, I'd be doing the same thing as I am right now."

"We wouldn't _want_ you to do this, even for us!" Danny shot back at him as Marina nodded in agreement, "Don't you get that?!"

"Danny," Mike said simply, "My mind's made up."

Danny had opened his mouth to say something else, but quickly shut it. He'd known his best friend long enough to know that once Mike had set his heart on something, there was no changing his mind. He could've argued with him for the rest of the night about it, and Mike would still stand firm on his decision.

Finally, Danny bit his lip before moving away from Mike and off to the sidelines, muttering words that would've landed him an in-school suspension with Dr. Crawford if he were actually in school with his nearby principal. Now Marina took one last look at Mike before asking, "Are you sure about this?"

Mike only glanced at her and nodded to let her know his answer, before she now joined Danny off to the side. Mike now turned to face Violet, whose head hung low as she looked to the paved road beneath her feet. Though her long, purple hair hid most of her body down to her chest, anybody could still clearly see the tears that were falling from her eyes as they hit the ground.

Mike made his way over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, which made her look up as he brushed her hair out of her face, letting her silver eyes once again meet his ocean-blue ones. He gave her the best reassuring smile that he could, before saying, "Don't worry. I got this."

Violet wiped the tears from her eyes, before giving him a nod to let him know she understood. "Just... promise me that, whatever you do..." she said softly to him, " _Don't lose._ "

"I don't plan to," Mike said with confidence.

Now Violet finally stepped away, joining Danny and Marina on the sidelines as Mike turned to look towards Crawford again, who was now arming his left arm with a standard, police-issue duel disk that had been given to him by the officer he'd asked to get him it.

"I'm only going to offer you one chance to change your mind," Dr. Crawford said as he now pulled his own Duel Monsters deck from his jacket and began shuffling it, "I don't want to have to put you away alongside this man, Mike."

"You set those stakes yourself, Dr. Crawford," Mike reminded him as he took his deck out from his duel disk to shuffle it, "And I agreed to them knowing full well what the consequences were. I'm not backing down."

Dr. Crawford sighed as he inserted his deck into his duel disk. "Then let's begin," he said sadly as the device activated.

Mike slid his deck back into his duel disk as well, triggering its activation as he positioned himself a good distance away from Dr. Crawford. The two duelists' eyes locked onto each other as they each dealt their first five cards.

"LET'S DUEL!" was cried out between the two.

 **[Mike – LP: 8000]**

 **[Dr. Crawford – LP: 8000]**

Behind Dr. Crawford, all of the cops that had been working on escorting Aeron out now stood attentively to watch the duel that was about to unfold. On Mike's side, Danny, Marina, and Violet were all shaking with nervousness. They hadn't seen Mike partake in a duel that felt this intense right from the start since his duel with Josiah when he'd first returned home.

"Because I know you're going to be at a disadvantage," Dr. Crawford reasoned as he gestured an inviting hand towards Mike, "I'll allow you to take the first move."

"Already starting with the pretentiousness, then?" Mike responded coolly as he made his first draw.

"I'll start by activating one of my favorite continuous spells: Constellar Star Chart!" Mike began, "Which you'll see coming in handy for me later.

"Then I'll summon Constellar Algiedi!" he continued.

 **[Constellar Algiedi – LV: 4/ATK: 1600]**

"And with Algiedi's effect, I can special summon another LV 4 Constellar monster from my hand!" Mike explained, "So I'll bring out my Constellar Acubens in DEF mode!"

 **[Constellar Acubens – LV: 4/DEF: 2000]**

"And when he's summoned..." Mike went on, "All of my Constellar monsters currently in play gain 500 ATK!"

 **[Constellar Algiedi – ATK: 2100]**

 **[Constellar Acubens – ATK: 1300]**

"But that's not the end of Acubens's usefulness," Mike said with a small grin, "Now, I'll overlay both him and Algiedi!"

The two monsters now allowed themselves to be absorbed into a familiar spatial portal as Mike now cried out, "I Xyz summon my Constellar Praesepe!"

 **[Constellar Praesepe – RK: 4/ATK: 2400]**

"Aw, yeah! That's what I'm talkin' about!" Danny exclaimed as he clenched a fist, "He got an Xyz monster out on his first turn, just like always!"

"And it doesn't stop there!" Mike said as he put two fingers to his deck, "While my Constellar Star Chart's in play when I Xyz summon a Constellar monster, I get to draw another card from my deck!"

Dr. Crawford, who had been observing Mike with a steely expression this entire time, watched as Mike drew another card before concluding: "Now I'll set one card face down, and end my turn!"

Violet could feel her anxiety beginning to dissipate as Mike wrapped up his turn. She knew as well as Danny and Marina did that Mike was a skilled enough duelist to know what he was doing, and from the move he'd just made, it looked like he was trying to start strong while also keeping slightly on the defensive. A good way to start a duel against an opponent he knew nothing about.

But now, as Dr. Crawford drew his first card silently, it suddenly occurred to her that perhaps Mike was still more in over his head than any of them realized. From his completely calm demeanor, to his cold, calculating eyes, Dr. Crawford was giving Violet the feeling that he was more than prepared for whatever Mike had up his sleeve.

"To start," said Dr. Crawford, "I think I'll set the field a little more to my liking: I activate the Black Garden field spell!"

The moment he'd placed the card in his duel disk, the road beneath them began to tremble slightly before a multitude of thick, thorny vines burst from the ground, weaving their way around the two duelists and intertwining themselves with each other to create a cage-like structure that sealed them inside.

"That's a lot of thorns..." Marina said before gulping nervously.

"That's also no field spell I've ever heard of before," Danny added as he eyed it carefully, "But I think we've got a good idea about what kind of deck Crawford runs now."

Meanwhile, inside of the makeshift thorn bush that had enveloped the duel field, Mike was taking in every detail of this new environment that he could. He was having flashbacks to his duel with Damian, who had also started the duel with a field spell that had completely warped the game to give him an advantage. Now, it appeared that Dr. Crawford was about to do the same, which raised a lot of red flags in Mike's mind.

Dr. Crawford now continued his move as he said, "Now I'll set one card face down. And with that, I shall end my turn."

Mike's eyes narrowed. _'Just this field spell and a set card...?'_ Mike thought to himself, _'Unless Crawford's really all bark and no bite, there's gotta be more to his strategy than this...'_

On the sidelines, Danny had just made the same realization, but with the help of a memory: "That's the same kinda opening move Aeron pulled on me earlier..." he quietly recalled to himself.

Violet and Marina's eyes widened as they too caught on to this, which only brought the worry that Violet had just managed to get out of her head back as she watched Mike draw his next card.

"I summon Constellar Sheratan in ATK mode!" he decided.

 **[Constellar Sheratan – LV: 3/ATK: 700]**

The moment Mike's monster appeared on the field, everyone but Dr. Crawford was in for a surprise: emerging from the bottom of the vine-wound cage that had encircled the duel field was a single, thorny vine that wound its way around Sheratan's tiny leg, making the small monster wince in pain.

"What's this about...?" Mike asked confusedly as he watched his monster try to break free of the vine's grip.

"That would be Black Garden's doing," Dr. Crawford explained to him matter-of-factly, "Any monster that's newly summoned to the field while my field spell is in play immediately loses half of its ATK."

 **[Constellar Sheratan – ATK: 350]**

"Not only that," Dr. Crawford elaborated, "But any time a monster is summoned, Black Garden automatically special summons a Rose Token to the opposing player's side of the field in ATK mode!"

And sure enough, from the floors of the Black Garden itself, a rose-like creature with leaves for arms suddenly bloomed onto Dr. Crawford's side of the field.

 **[Rose Token – LV: 2/ATK: 800]**

"Well, I can still use my Sheratan's ability!" Mike said, not allowing this interesting development faze him, "When he's summoned, I can add any Constellar monster from my deck to my hand! So I'll add my Constellar Kaus!"

The card slipped out of his deck zone, from which he took it and added it to his hand before crying out, "And now that that's done, I'll have Constellar Praesepe attack your Rose Token!

"And in case you didn't know," Mike added in as Praesepe now bounded towards the rosy creature, "By detaching one overlay unit, he gains 1000 more ATK points for the battle!"

 **[Constellar Praesepe – ATK: 3400]**

But as Mike's golden-fisted creature flew towards Dr. Crawford's Token, the latter merely raised his hand over his set card as he calmly said: "I activate my trap!"

Before anybody could see what Dr. Crawford's flipped trap card was, a giant bolt of lightning suddenly came down from the sky above, penetrating through the Black Garden and striking Constellar Praesepe, who writhed in momentary shock before shattering into nothingness.

"What the hell was that...?!" Mike cried out as confusion adorned his face.

" _That_ was my Raigeki Break trap card," Dr. Crawford said simply in response, "It destroys any card on the field that I choose, and only at the cost of discarding one card from my hand.

"And speaking of which..." he continued as he discarded his card, "The card that I'm discarding is my Dandylion monster, whose special ability activates once he reaches the graveyard: now I can special summon two Fluff Tokens to my field in DEF mode!"

 **[Fluff Token – LV: 1/DEF: 0]**

 **[Fluff Token – LV: 1/DEF: 0]**

"And because monsters were summoned to my side of the field," Dr. Crawford went on, "Black Garden will now give _you_ a Rose Token as well."

Mike watched as the same rose-shaped creature now sprouted on his side of the field.

 **[Rose Token – LV: 2/ATK: 800]**

"Tch..." Mike muttered before he regained his composure, "Then I guess I'll just end my turn with one more face down card. Your move."

"Very well, then," said Dr. Crawford as he drew his next card.

"I'll first release both of my Fluff Tokens," he started as both of his tiny token monsters disappeared, "And in doing so, I advance summon my Tytannial, Princess of Camellias!"

 **[Tytannial, Princess of Camellias – LV: 8/ATK: 2800]**

Everyone gathered now stared in awe at the sight of this new, elegant lady that had descended upon Dr. Crawford's field as the latter continued, "Unfortunately, Black Garden also takes away half of the ATK points of all of my own monsters as well, but it's a small price to pay."

 **[Tytannial, Princess of Camellias – ATK: 1400]**

"And with her summoning, a second Rose Token will now blossom on your side of the field," Dr. Crawford told Mike, who watched a third rosy creature emerge from the Black Garden's depths onto his field.

 **[Rose Token – LV: 2/ATK: 800]**

"Now, my Tytannial!" Dr. Crawford now declared his attack, "Attack his Sheratan!"

His flowery princess raised her arms as she called upon a flurry of flower petals to whirl around her, before she sent them flying towards Sheratan.

But Mike had expected as much: "I activate Dimensional Prison!" he countered as he flipped his trap card, which intercepted the surge of flower petals and made them disperse while he explained, "With this, I can banish any attacking monsters from the game! So your Tytannial's gonna have to go!"

Despite this, Dr. Crawford merely scoffed at Mike. "Did you really think I would allow my Princess to be taken out so easily?" he said questionably, which made Mike narrow his eyes in confusion as he now countered, "I use my Tytannial's special ability!

"Whenever a card is targeted for an effect like your Dimensional Prison does," he explained with a sly smirk, "Tytannial can sacrifice one plant-type monster on my field to negate that card and destroy it. So I'll offer up my Rose Token to negate your trap!"

Mike watched with shock as Dr. Crawford's Rose Token disappeared in a vortex made up of the same flower petals that Tytannial commanded, before those same petals now flew towards Mike's Dimensional Prison card, which shattered upon contact with them.

"And with that out of the way," Dr. Crawford now continued on casually as Mike gritted his teeth, "My Tytannial's attack can now continue! Destroy Sheratan!"

Tytannial once again directed a gust of flower petals towards Mike's Sheratan, who flinched as the petals swarmed around him before exploding, destroying him in the center.

 **[Mike – LP: 6950]**

Mike's eyebrows knit in frustration as Dr. Crawford now concluded: "And with that, I'll set one more card face down to end my turn."

As the set card materialized before Dr. Crawford, Mike growled irritatedly under his breath. _'He wasn't kidding when he said that I was at a disadvantage...'_ he realized in his mind, _'That plant deck of his seems to have a counter for every move I make...'_

His eyes glanced past Dr. Crawford's towards the armored truck, where he could see Aeron watching the duel from behind the small window in the back door.

 _'Just hang on, Aeron...'_ he said silently, _'I'm gonna find a way to win this, and get you out of there. I promise.'_

* * *

 _ **To Be Continued...**_

* * *

 **Next Time**

 **Chapter 9: "Marks - Part 2"**

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

 _So today, I'd like to take an opportunity to give out some special thanks._

 _Firstly: to Master Of Anime224. You've been supporting this story ever since its publication, and you've officially now become my Beta Reader should the need arise. I've recommended your own original story numerous times to other people, and even put a shout out to it in here. And it's not just 'cause it's an awesome story: it's 'cause you're a true friend, and I'd pay you back with British food if I knew anything about British food. XD As you say in the UK with proper terminology, cheers. ^^_

 _Secondly: to HolyMage Mouto. You have been the guy who's stuck with me since the very beginning of my tenure on this website almost 5 years ago, and I cannot even begin to imagine how many weird-ass conversations we've had over that span of time. I can't appreciate having you in my life enough, really and truly. Also, you're an excellent guy to run these duels I write by. ^^ So thanks for everything._

* * *

 **Recommended Works**

 ** _Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-VOC_** **, by OPFan37** \- _What seems to be your typical self-insert-into-the-main-story YGO fic, but with one special twist... our new hero KNOWS he's in the Arc-V anime. This is truly a unique take on the long-ass genre I just mentioned, and from what I've read so far, it really does work beautifully. I can see why the community on here has really taken a liking to this story, and I look forward to reading more of it myself._

* * *

 ** _\- Last Revised: May 2, 2017 -_**


	9. Marks - Part 2

**Yu-Gi-Oh! Mark of Death**

 **Chapter 10: "Redemption - Part 1"**

 **Opening Theme: "Raining" by Art Of Dying**

 **Ending Theme: "Behind Blue Eyes" by Limp Bizkit**

* * *

The last bell of Dexterity High School's day rang, signaling the sudden explosion of classroom doors swinging open as students flooded into the facility's hallways. The echo of clamoring footsteps and loud chattering was overwhelming as the few hundred teens in the building made their way towards either the stairwell, their lockers, or the school's front doors so that they could head home.

Amongst them, Violet was one of few who made a beeline straight for their locker, where she began putting away her textbooks as the boring facts from her last class faded from her mind. Her thoughts couldn't stop going back to the night of the incident with Dr. Crawford and Aeron almost a week earlier; particularly what might've been said in Mike's last exchange with his former mentor before they had returned to her apartment.

She, Danny, and Marina had gotten used to Mike keeping some distance from them ever since his return to County Dame. After all, they couldn't blame him for needing a little time to adjust back to his normal life—especially now that they knew he'd spent the last two years in a place that had been like a constant war zone. But ever since that night, it had started to feel like he was trying to shut them out entirely: he'd stopped joining them in the abandoned trailer after school during the week, and it had become such a rare occurrence to see him around the apartment that it was beginning to feel like he was more an occasional visitor than an actual resident of the place. And no matter how many times any of them ever tried to call him on his cell, he never answered.

The only reason Violet could think of as to why Mike had become so much more distant was what he and Aeron might've discussed during their last conversation the weekend before. When she'd asked him if everything was okay afterwards, she'd could tell there was a hint of deceit in his voice when he'd said that everything was "going to be fine." She'd known him long enough to know when he was trying to hide something; and the look on his face, the way he'd voiced his response, and the way he was now distancing himself so far from everyone were surefire signs that something was weighing heavily on his mind.

But what was really driving Violet mad was the thought of Mike and Aeron's last conversation most likely being about the missing friend of theirs that they had been trying to locate—the _girl_ that she'd overheard Mike talking about over the phone the night before that whole episode. Despite having learned about Mike's true feelings towards her from Aeron, she couldn't help but think about the possibility of Mike potentially harboring feelings for this other girl too, and that _she_ was why Mike had started pushing himself away from Violet and the others...

Violet shook her head as she forced those thoughts out of her mind. Ever since Mike had gotten back, she'd been thinking way too deeply into how Mikw might've felt towards her, and anymore thinking about it would wind up driving her insane. Not only that, but there was always the possibility that this girl that Mike and Aeron were looking for really was _just_ a friend. Nothing to be jealous of in that.

So with that thought in mind, Violet exhaled deeply as she closed the door to her locker, still clutching the few folders she needed for homework as she silently promised to herself that she wouldn't let the thought of this other girl bother her anymore. After all, these thoughts only came from her making hypothetical assumptions, and there was no good that could come from assuming anything.

"Hey, Violet!"

Violet nearly jumped out of her own skin as she shrieked, earning a few confused glances from other passing students as she turned to see where the sudden voice had come from: there was Danny and Marina, standing where she hadn't been able to see them before when her locker door was open. Danny, whose upper attire had changed to a red T-shirt with black, plastic bracelets on his wrists, had clearly been highly amused by Violet's startled reaction from the smirk on his face, while Marina looked more annoyed by her crush's apparent joviality from the situation.

"Danny! What the hell?!" Violet nearly shouted at him as she tightly clutched her folders, "Don't scare me like that! It's not funny!"

"Not for nothing, but it actually _was_ a little funny," Danny replied, rubbing the back of his head as he grinned innocently.

Behind him, Marina scoffed as she crossed her arms. "Your stupid type of humor is never funny..." she said under her breath.

Danny turned to shoot her an annoyed look. "It's called _slapstick_ humor, Marina..." he muttered back in a low tone, " _Slap_. _Stick_. Ever heard of _The Three Stooges?_ "

Marina rolled her eyes uncaringly, while Violet's face deadpanned as she listened to them bicker. Over the last week, these kinds of verbal skirmishes between the two had become so increasingly frequent, that nearly everyone in the school was beginning to realize that their hostility was clearly a front to mask their true feelings for each other.

Now Violet heaved an exasperated sigh. " _Anyways_..." she cut in before their debacle went any further, "What's up?"

Marina's attention returned to Violet as she explained, "We just wanted to know whether or not you invited Mike to go to the Prom tomorrow night."

"Oh..." Violet said with sudden realization as her eyes widened, "Right..."

Amidst all of the insanity in her mind, she'd completely forgotten that the Junior-Senior Prom was now only two days away. She, Danny, and Marina had all bought their tickets in advance the month before, and she and Marina had already shopped for their dresses in preparation. And of course, the school was letting everybody out early the day of the dance so that they could get themselves all dressed up and ready to look fashionable for the big night.

Now Danny and Marina were seeing the answer to their question in Violet's face as realization spread across it, which made Danny sigh as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "Lemme guess: you haven't even _seen_ him lately, have you?" he guessed.

Violet only shook her head in response. During the few instances she _did_ see Mike at the apartment, he was usually stepping in just to quickly grab something from his room before running back out again.

It was Marina's turn to sigh sadly, before saying, "I remember back when you guys were Sophomores, and I was still a Freshman..."

Violet's and Danny's eyes were on Marina now as she recalled, "It was before Mike had disappeared... we made a promise that we'd all go to the Prom together during you guys' Senior year; since I couldn't go as a Sophomore, and you'd all be gone when I was a Senior..."

The memory of that promise now returned to the minds of Violet and Danny, as the latter dropped his backpack on the floor before leaning against one of the lockers with one arm. "Yeah, I remember that promise too..." he said thoughtfully, "But we wouldn't really be keeping that promise if Mike wasn't with us..."

Marina nodded in agreement as her and Danny's eyes returned to Violet, who felt their piercing gazes as she realized what they were asking of her: she was the only one with a good chance of getting Mike to go to that dance the following night—to fulfill that promise they'd made two years ago.

"Guys, look..." she started, though she didn't exactly know where she was going with her words, "Just... with how he's been for the last few days... I'm not really sure he'd even _want_ to go, given how he's been..."

"Well, maybe that's all the more reason we _should_ ask him to come."

All eyes turned to Danny now as he explained: "Think about it: if he's all mopey 'cause something's bothering him, then maybe a little dance party with his friends is just what he needs to help him get whatever's on his mind, _off_ of it!"

Marina couldn't help but raise surprised eyebrows at this. It was seldom that she heard Danny trying to be the voice of reason in their group, much less being one with an idea that was actually decent. And for it, she couldn't help but give him a small smile of admiration.

Violet, meanwhile, felt her spirits lifting up a little as Danny looked back to her. "They're still selling Prom tickets in the front office 'til school closes," he told her, "How 'bout you grab one for Mike, and just see if he'll take it?"

Violet nodded in understanding as a smile finally came to her face. "Alright, I'll try," she promised him, "Thanks, Danny."

"Don't mention it," Danny said as he pushed himself back into a standing position from the locker, "I just hope you find him in time."

"But until then..." Danny took a moment to stretch his arms as he spoke, "I gotta get started on my walk home. I forgot my skateboard like an idiot today, and of course they decided to load us with homework tonight, so I'm gonna need a bit of a head-start."

And with that, he picked up his bag again before giving a small wave to the girls as he said, "Later."

"See you," Violet and Marina said back in unison as their eyes followed him into the stairwell, before Marina turned to look at Violet with what could only be described as a dreamy look.

"Is it just me, or has Danny suddenly gotten a little more... _mature_ over the last few days...?" she asked as her hand absentmindedly started playing with her hair.

Violet let out a small laugh. "Well, maybe not his sense of humor..." she muttered with slight disdain from her earlier scare, "But I admit, there's definitely been some kind of change in him. He's actually been doing a lot better in class, somehow."

"You think maybe it has something to do with that duel he had with Aeron?" Marina questioned as she looked to the door that her crush had just walked through.

"Maybe..." Violet said as she too looked to where their friend had walked out from.

* * *

It wasn't long before Violet exited the school to get onto her bus, where she immediately started getting chewed out by the bus driver for making him wait so long. But his indignant complaints were hardly capable of bothering her, as she'd gotten used to hearing far worse scoldings from her father whenever he'd been in a drunken stupor over the last year.

That aside, she'd at least managed to pick up one last Prom ticket from the school office. Unfortunately, that was the easier part of trying to convince Mike to come with her and the others to the Prom the following night; the real challenge would be actually seeing him, if she was lucky enough. The odds of running into him around the apartment before the day ended seemed pretty slim as they were, and the idea of trying to go find him seemed even more absurd, given County Dame's size.

These thoughts circulated in Violet's mind for the entirety of her bus ride home, and only by the time she had been dropped off in front of her apartment did she come to the conclusion that she would just have to hope that whatever deity of luck existed in the world would smile on her for long enough to let Mike drop by the apartment at some point soon. But until then, she had to be patient.

As she rode the elevator up to her apartment floor, she took the few moments she had to herself to rehearse how she ought to approach Mike with her offer. The only way she could think to bring it up was to remind him about the promise they had made for Marina all those years ago; but to her, that seemed more like she was trying to guilt him into going rather than convincing him to join them for a fun night out, and she didn't want her invitation to sound like that.

She paused these thoughts as she stepped through the elevator onto her floor, made her way to the apartment door, and opened it as she called, "Dad? You home?"

"In the kitchen!" she heard Bulbous's high-spirited voice ring out in response.

Violet couldn't help but crack a smirk. It had been so long since she'd ever heard, much less seen, her father be genuinely happy; and to finally hear it in his voice again was an uplifting experience for her every time she did.

She made her way to the kitchen, rounding the corner to see her father sitting at the small table against the wall, eating salad out of a bowl while looking over a small pile of paper in his hands. She couldn't help but arch a surprised eyebrow as she glanced from the salad to her father.

"I don't think I've seen you even _touch_ a green food in the last year or so," she said, crossing her arms as if she was unable to believe what she was looking at.

"Yeah, well..." Bulbous said sheepishly as he scratched at his sides, "I said I was gonna make right everything I've been doing wrong... my diet's on that list too."

Violet gave a small chuckle before her attention shifted to the papers in Bulbous's hands. "What're those for?" she questioned as she pointed at them.

Bulbous put the papers down before turning to his daughter. "Just some documents I gotta read over from the bank," he explained, before a grin suddenly spread across his lips as he finished ecstatically, "So that they'll give me the loan to help me open up the deli again!"

Violet's jaw dropped as a wide smile spread across her face at her father's words. "Wait, are you serious...?!" she managed to breathe out, barely able to contain her excitement at the thought.

Bulbous stretched out his arms in a celebratory manner as he proudly boomed out, "We're gettin' the deli back, baby!"

Violet couldn't stop herself from squealing delightedly as she threw herself into her father's arms, wrapping her own around him as she cried out, "Oh my god! I can't believe it!"

Bulbous returned the embrace as he laughed heartily at his daughter's enthusiasm. "I told you everything was gonna go back to normal, didn't I?" he reminded her brightly, "Pretty soon, we'll have all the money we'll ever need again, and it'll be just like the good ol' days!"

Violet pulled away to lock eyes with her father as she beamed at him. The deli hadn't just been Bulbous's pride and joy that he'd made a living off of; it had been their home for as long as she could remember. The whole upstairs of the original building had actually been an living space that Bulbous built on his own so that he could save money by living where he worked, and it was where he'd raised Violet for the first sixteen years of her life. So when they'd been forced to move out of there after the vermin infestation, it had left Violet more heartbroken than she had thought was possible after learning that Mike had disappeared. But now, the idea that she was finally going to be able to go back to where she had considered her "true" home to be was one thought that couldn't have made her any happier.

"What's all the excitement about?"

Both Violet and Bulbous's heads turned sharply to look where the voice had come from: there was Mike, standing in the entryway between the kitchen and the living room, looking at the two of them with a slightly confused expression.

Violet forced herself to suppress a scream as she felt her mind and body go numb at the sight of him. There really WAS a deity of luck somewhere out there, and it was smiling down on her today.

Bulbous, meanwhile, stood from his chair as he exclaimed, "There you are, Mike! I was just tellin' Violet about how we're finally re-opening the deli!"

Mike's eyes widened at this. "Wow, that's..." he stumbled over his words, sounding as though he didn't know what to say or how to react to this information, "That's... awesome. Really. I'm glad to hear it."

While Bulbous seemed to take Mike's reaction as if he seemed so overjoyed by this news that he couldn't even speak, Violet wasn't as easily fooled: she could almost see the thoughts racing through his mind that must have been distracting him from fully embracing what he'd heard; otherwise, she knew that Mike would've jumped for joy as much as she had.

Now, Bulbous continued: "I was thinkin' of taking us all out for dinner to celebrate! Whattaya say, Mike?"

Mike's expression reverted to its usual seriousness as he replied, "Ah; much as I'd love to, I was actually just stopping by to grab something from my room real quick. Sorry."

Disappointment spread across Bulbous's face as Mike turned towards the hallway, which immediately raised an alarm in Violet's head that jolted her back to her senses. She immediately scurried after him as she hurriedly cried out, "Wait!"

Mike came to a halt halfway through his trek towards his room, before turning to watch as Violet skidded to a stop in front of him. But the moment she looked up to meet his eyes, she couldn't find her voice to speak. She had been riding on the hope that she would at least have a little more time before seeing Mike later that day, so that she could plan out how she wanted to approach him about Prom. But now he was here, standing before her a lot sooner than she'd expected, and she was without a plan.

Now Mike was raising a confused eyebrow as he looked down at Violet, waiting to hear what she had to say. "Yes...?" he asked her, which snapped her back to reality with a blink.

"Well..." she started, trying to force the words out of herself, "You see, it's just that... the _Prom_ is tomorrow night..."

Bulbous, who had sat back down at the kitchen table to continue eating his salad and look over his papers, now froze mid-chomp as his ears perked up from what he'd overheard.

Mike, meanwhile, continued to stare inquisitively at Violet as she finally said, "And I was wondering if... maybe you'd like to... _go with me...?_ "

As soon as the words escaped her lips, Violet immediately felt herself beginning to blush as she realized how her invitation had come out. Similarly, Mike now averted his eyes as his cheeks also turned tomato-red; the uncomfortable expression on his face making it clear that this was the last thing he'd been prepared to face today.

"I, uh..." he stammered, struggling to find the right words to respond with, "Er... I mean… well—"

"Of COURSE he'd like to go with you!"

The sudden booming voice from behind made Mike jump slightly, before turning his head to see Bulbous standing right behind him, placing his giant hands on Mike's shoulders as he said, "After all, Mike's not the kind of guy who'd turn down an invite like that, let alone make you go all by yourself! He's too much of a gentleman to let that happen!"

Bulbous now shot an intense glare down at Mike as he said, almost threateningly, " _Right, Mike?_ "

Mike seemed to suddenly shrink before Bulbous as a half-dumbfounded, half-terrified expression spread across his face. It was clear that his mind was failing to come up with a response to anything that was happening at this point

Violet, meanwhile, couldn't stop a grateful smile from spreading across her lips at her father's interference in that moment. Of all the aspects of his daughter's life, the one part he'd always refused to directly involve himself in was her romantic life, as he'd always believed in that being nobody else's business but her own. Even so, he'd always known how Violet had always cared for Mike; and aside from the brief stint he'd had some few weeks before, he'd never once objected to him being his daughter's love interest. And now, here he was, finally deciding to step in to help his daughter finally bring her lifelong dream of being with him to fruition.

Eventually, Mike was able to break his gaze away from Bulbous's fierce eyes as he looked to meet Violet's hopeful ones again. He let out a small sigh as he realized there was no arguing his way out of this, before finally saying, "Y'know what? Sure. Could be fun, I suppose."

Violet was ready to burst into tears of joy the moment she heard those words, but she held herself back once more. Bulbous, on the other hand, removed his hands from Mike's shoulders, patting him on the back instead now as he then said, "That's more like it! Now, that just leave one thing we gotta take care of."

A curious expression overtook both Violet's and Mike's faces as they looked up at Bulbous. "And that is...?" Mike inquired, his tone implying that he was partially scared of what the answer might be.

"Well, Violet already bought her dress for Prom last month," Bulbous explained as he circled around to stand next to his daughter, "So she's all set for tomorrow night.

"But _you_ , on the other hand..." Bulbous said, a humored smile now spreading across his face as the thought of what he was about to say next reached his mind, "We need to get you into a suit!"

If Mike's eyes could've widened more than they had at Bulbous's words, they very well might've fallen out of his skull as his skin paled and he appallingly said, "Oh, _no_..."

* * *

 _ **\- THE NEXT DAY -**_

"OHHH YEAH!" Danny burst through the Kohl's changing room door with enthusiasm, "I feel really good about this one! Whattaya think, Mike?"

The blonde looked away from the suits he was currently looming over to inspect his loud friend: he was dressed up in a bright-orange tuxedo jacket, with a frilled shirt and bowtie of matching color worn beneath it. His legs had donned orange pants, held up by a belt of same color around his waist. His choice of footwear was orange, slip-on dress shoes, which made him look even more excessively ridiculous than the rest of his attire already did. The orange top hat resting on his head brought the rest of the outfit together, while also driving said point of ridiculousness home.

Mike just shook his head at Danny with distaste. "Yeah, _no_..." he told him as he looked his absurd apparel up and down, "Not unless you want to go looking like Jim Carrey in _Dumb and Dumber_."

He casually went back to examining the suits in front of him, while Danny's face changed from ecstatic to disgruntled at Mike's words before looking down at his frilly garments, realizing his best friend was right.

"Damn it..." he muttered defeatedly as he threw his top hat frisbee-style back into the changing room, "Seriously, why can't I find any _good_ suits...?"

"That's what you get for going tux shopping at the last minute," Mike stated, without looking up this time.

Danny rolled his eyes as he slid off the orange tux jacket, before questioning, "Well, what are _you_ planning on going in, then?"

Mike picked up a plain, black suit jacket and a white, short-sleeved, button-up shirt to look at side-by-side as he answered, "Eh, you know me... I like to keep things simple."

Danny nodded in acknowledgment before he started trying to find the buttons beneath all of the frills on his shirt, which he eventually gave up on after a minute of struggling before deciding to change the subject:

" _So_..." he started awkwardly, "You planning on finally asking Violet out tonight?"

Mike, who had started trying on the white button-up shirt he'd picked up before, now stopped abruptly before letting out a heavy sigh. "I don't know," he admitted before looking over to Danny, "Are _you_ planning on finally asking out Marina?"

Danny opened his mouth to respond, but quickly shut it when he realized what had come out of his friend's mouth. "Wait, how did you—?"

"I've been living with Violet, remember?" Mike reminded him with a somewhat sly smile, "She filled me in about you two last week."

"Of _course_ she did..." Danny mumbled as he put his forehead against the wall, embarrassed.

Mike shook his head at Danny's comical reaction. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, she failed to tell me _why_ you two seem to be so infatuated with each other all of a sudden," he told him as he continued buttoning up the shirt, "Because last either of us checked, you two only put up with each other for the sake of your friendship with me, and her friendship with Violet."

Danny lifted his head from the wall as he turned to Mike with a serious expression—a face that Mike wasn't used to seeing on him. He hoped that he hadn't somehow offended Danny, but the latter could see it in his best friend's eyes that he wasn't trying to tease him about the subject: he genuinely wanted an answer to his question.

Danny heaved a sigh as he looked away, a thoughtful expression coming to his face before he finally started: "It was a little over a year after you'd disappeared... we'd all stopped going to the trailer together after school, what with Violet having to deal with her dad losing his deli and all..."

Mike's expression was attentive as Danny explained, "After that, Marina and I kinda started hanging out together on our own... we were seeing Violet less and less outside of school since her dad was turning into such a hard-ass. So it really felt like the two of us only had each other as friends for a while. And throughout all that... well, I dunno..."

A small smile began to form on Danny's face. "I guess..." he figured, "With all that time we spent getting to really know each other, I couldn't help but start feeling... ' _things_ ' for her..."

"So what's kept you from just asking her out already?" Mike asked as he finished buttoning up the white shirt.

Danny turned his head up to look at Mike again, before scoffing at himself. "The same reasons you've been hesitant to ask out Violet, I suppose," he retorted as he stood up straight again, "Fear of rejection; her not feeling the same way; that sorta thing."

Mike's brow furrowed at this comparison, which Danny immediately caught onto before saying, "Hey, don't try and tell me that's not what your problem is. We've been having this same conversation since seventh grade."

It was Mike's turn to look away now, and Danny could see it in his old friend's eyes: the same fear that had glossed over his ocean-blue orbs during all of their previous discussions about the subject before. Yet, at the same time, he could tell that there was something... different about this look than what he was used to seeing, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was...

"It's not that I'm afraid of rejection."

Danny now raised a confused eyebrow as he watched Mike turn to look at himself in the mirror next to the changing room door. "Shortly after I got back, I kind of figured out that she really has felt the same way about me for a long time," he explained, his mind flashing back to his first conversation with Dr. Crawford and the night Violet had kissed him on the cheek, "If I were to try and ask her out now, she'd probably say 'yes' without hesitation."

He now turned to lock eyes with Danny again. "The reason I'm scared to..." he said shakily as his fists clenched, "Is because I know she's in love with the innocent boy that I used to be; not the scarred man who came back from Frontier Haven."

Danny rubbed the back of his head as he digested Mike's words, letting out a low whistle while doing so. He kept forgetting that his best friend was now a damaged victim of war, and there was still so much about him that he didn't fully know or understand. And because of that, he was unsure of what were the right things to say that wouldn't send Mike over some kind of edge, which was the last thing he wanted to do to his best friend.

"Damn..." he started, trying to choose his words carefully as he spoke, "That's some heavy stuff... I'm not really sure what to say to that.

"But what I _will_ say is this..." He now walked up to Mike to meet him face-to-face as he said, "If Violet really does care about you as much as she's claimed to all this time, then it shouldn't matter what you've been through throughout the last two years, or what kind of person you think it turned you into."

Mike's eyes widened slightly at these words as Danny continued: "To her, you're _still_ the boy that she remembers growing up with—the same boy she fell in love with all those years ago."

Mike's lips curled into an appreciative smile as he let those words sink into him. "You really think so...?" Mike asked, a small glimmer of hope in his voice.

"Without a doubt in my mind," Danny answered as he returned the smile with an encouraging one of his own.

Mike's grin widened a little more, before nodding to let Danny know he'd taken in his words. "Thanks, man," he said to him gratefully.

Danny only patted his best friend on the shoulder as he replied, "Anytime."

Now Mike turned to pick up the black suit jacket he'd been holding earlier, and proceeded to try it on before turning to Danny for his input. "So... how do I look?" he asked.

Danny looked his best friend up and down, a mildly jealous expression appearing on his face as he did so. "Better than I do, at least..." he assured him before shooting an annoyed glance down at his shirt of unending frills.

* * *

It was around 5:10 PM by the time Mike and Danny walked out of the Kohl's store with their new suits, already dressed up in them given the Prom was less than an hour away.

In the end, Mike's choice of attire was the black suit jacket and white shirt he'd tried on earlier, as well as black suit pants and dress shoes to match. He'd left the top button of his white shirt undone, not wanting to deal with feeling like it was choking him the whole night. Around his neck hung a black skinny tie, which he'd also left hanging loosely around his neck to prevent discomfort.

Danny, meanwhile, had abandoned his orange top hat, as well as traded out the over-frilled shirt for a plain, collared shirt that was a slightly lighter shade of orange than the rest of the suit. Unlike Mike, however, he kept his shirt buttoned all the way up; and instead of a necktie, an orange bow tie that matched the suit jacket's color was now fastened around his neck.

As soon as the two friends exited the large clothing store, they bid their adieus to each other before departing for their separate homes. Though Mike found his walk to be somewhat uncomfortable, as the shoes he'd just bought weren't particularly made for lengthy strolls down concrete sidewalks. Then again, he'd forced himself to bear trudging through nearly the entire city back to Bulbous's apartment while soaked from head to toe only a few days prior, so he really couldn't bring himself to complain.

Thankfully, the walk didn't last long for him anyway, as it was about fifteen minutes later that he found himself stepping through the elevator doors onto Bulbous's floor. But when he made to open the apartment door, he was in for a small surprise: the door was locked.

Mike raised a curious eyebrow; Bulbous normally never locked the apartment door unless everyone else was out somewhere. And with the Prom so close to starting, he doubted that Bulbous and Violet would've left for some last-minute adventure.

He now tried knocking on the door as he called, "Hello?"

"Just a second!" came Bulbous's voice from the other side of the door, which sounded almost frantic; as though he were hurriedly trying to finish something.

Mike exhaled as he shook his head, a small smile coming to his face as he realized what this was about: Bulbous was probably helping Violet get dressed and ready for the night, and he didn't want Mike to see her until she was absolutely perfect.

It was only about a minute or so later before Mike heard the doorknob click from the other side, followed by Bulbous's voice saying, "Alright, come on in!"

Mike once again tried opening the door, finding no difficulty this time as he stepped inside, where he found Bulbous sitting on the living room couch. But as soon as Mike came into his view, Bulbous immediately stood to meet him at full height as he said with amazement, "Wow, look at you! I'm diggin' the rugged-gentleman look you got goin' on!"

Mike grinned sheepishly as he replied, "Heh, thanks..."

It was in this moment that Mike noticed: he and Bulbous were the only ones in the living room, which brought a puzzled expression to his face as he asked, "So, uh... where's Violet?"

Before Bulbous could answer, the sound of a door creaking open and footsteps were heard as Violet emerged from her bedroom.

The moment she came into his view, Mike felt his heart beginning to pound uncontrollably as he beheld every detail of her in his stunned silence: she was clad in a silk, orchid-colored dress that hugged her around the waist, held up with only a single strap that went over her right shoulder. Gems arranged in flowery patterns aligned the topmost part of the dress leading up to the strap. The lower half of the dress was slit in two places near the bottom so that her legs weren't entirely confined beneath the dress, and her feet had adorned high heels of the same orchid color. Her hair had been straightened out around the top, but went on to be curly near the bottom, where it was able to sit perfectly on her shoulders. Her right wrist was decorated with silver bracelets, while her left wrist bore a lilac corsage that matched her dress.

As Violet stopped to stand before Mike, he managed to pull himself somewhat together as he stammered out, "W-whoa..."

Violet's cheeks flushed as she let out a light giggle of appreciation. "You like it?" she asked him.

"Like..." he absentmindedly repeated, before shaking his head slightly to snap himself out of the mesmerization her beauty had put him in, "I mean; yeah... you look amazing."

A delighted smile lit up on Violet's face as she now took a moment to take in Mike's new threads. "You don't look half-bad yourself..." she complimented as she looked him up and down, "Mister 'Rugged-Looking Gentleman'."

Mike rubbed the back of his head as his own face turned beet-colored at Violet's words. Bulbous, meanwhile, now clasped his hands together as he said, "Okay, I think it's time kids hit the road! I wonder if the limo I called up is here yet..."

Once again, Mike and Violet's heads both turned to look at Bulbous in surprise. "I'm sorry, did you just say _limo_...?" Mike questioned, his eyebrows raised so high they could've floated off of his head, "As in, you actually rented out a _limo_...?"

"And _how_ were you able to afford something like that?" Violet added in, her eyes wide with disbelief as well.

"Well, truth is I can't," Bulbous admitted, "I had to put it on my credit card, which I'll pay off once the deli's back in business.

"And besides..." he said as he now put a comforting hand on his flustered daughter's shoulder, "It doesn't matter what the cost was; I'll still do anything to make my Angel's night as amazing as I can."

"Awe, Dad..." Violet said as she embraced her father appreciatively, "You're the best!"

Bulbous chuckled as he returned his daughter's hug with one of his own bear-sized ones, which lasted a few moments before he pulled away as he said, "Alright, now get a move on already! The limo's probably waiting for ya outside!"

"Right..." Violet acknowledged before turning to Mike, drawing a quick breath before asking him, "You ready?"

"Yeah... actually, wait," Mike said suddenly with realization, "Almost forgot—one sec."

He then darted down the hallway towards his room as Violet watched on, before glancing to her father with confusion.

"Maybe he's nervous?" Bulbous suggested as he looked to the door Mike had just disappeared through.

Violet shot her father a look. "Really, Dad?" she asked, "Mike, nervous?"

Bulbous shrugged innocently just as Mike reemerged from his room. "Sorry about that," he apologized as he moved to stand next to Violet again, "Nearly forgot my ticket.

"Now then..." he said, a smile forming on his face as he lifted an arm to offer Violet escort, "Shall we?"

Violet's confused expression turned into one of delight as she giggled at Mike's gesture, happily wrapping her arm around his extended one before they made their way towards the apartment door.

Bulbous watched with a hearty smile as the two teens stepped through the door, closing it behind them as a single tear of happiness dropped from his eyes.

 _'Good luck to ya, Angel...'_ he silently wished to his daughter.

* * *

Sure enough, a slick, black limousine was parked and waiting for Mike and Violet as soon as they stepped outside. The limo's chauffeur stood by the car's door, greeting the two as they approached before opening the door to allow them inside.

They were instantly astonished by the opulent interior within: blue and red lights scattered across the ceiling illuminated the entirety of the space, and every last inch of the long seats was clad in black leather. A flat-screen TV hung on the wall behind where the chauffeur was driving, next to which sat a tub filled with ice and bottles of sparkling cider.

"Whoa..." Violet breathed out with awe as she took in the extravagant space around her, "So this is what's like inside of a limo, huh...?"

"Inside of _this_ one, anyway..." Mike figured as he gazed out the window, watching as they flew through the cityscape.

The two didn't have long to enjoy the luxuries that their ride for the night had to offer, however, as it was only minutes later when they arrived at their destination: the faded, gold-colored building was County Dame's most prestigious hotel, standing at twenty stories high. A glass, half-dome sheltered the hotel's large front doors, before which a great number of other cars and limousines were either pulling up or driving away. Atop the tall structure was a large sign that spelled out the hotel's name in neon-red lights: _La Comté Dame Beaulieu_.

"Damn..." Mike uttered with bewilderment as he and Violet stepped out from their limo, "Dexterity High doesn't mess around..."

"No kidding..." Violet agreed with the same entranced tone as she looked up at the grandiose building, "I can see why Prom's always been the most hyped event of the year by Juniors and Seniors..."

Just then, their attentions were stolen away once again by the sudden sound of a _**HONK HONK!**_ coming from behind them, but they were in for a surprise when they turned to see where it'd come from: there was Danny, pulling up to the hotel's sidewalk in a bright-blue Lexus sports car, with Marina in the passenger's seat next to him. The ear-to-ear grin on her face had to have been as wide as Danny's was upon seeing the faces of their friends when they'd come into view.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me..." Violet said with astoundment as Danny exited the sleek ride, chuckling to himself giddily as he did so.

"Nope! No joke this time!" was Danny's response as he circled around to open the door for Marina, "My Pop let me borrow his sweetest set of wheels for the night!"

"You mean MY dad let you borrow HIS car," Marina corrected him as she now stepped out from the car, "After you spent five minutes BEGGING him to let you take it out."

Marina's choice of attire was a sparkly red dress, which was held up by straps that intersected each other as they went over her shoulders. A thick, black belt wrapped around her waist, while the lower half was cut short so you could see the long, black stockings that clung to her legs. Her feet had adorned tall, black heels, which pushed her just one inch taller to make her height equivalent to Violet's. Her chocolate-colored hair was put up in a small bun, and her face was actually without the usual black-rimmed glasses she always wore.

Now, Danny's eye was beginning to twitch irksomely at how Marina had just denounced his tale, before turning to her with the most shot-down expression he face could make as he growled through gritted teeth, "I thought you said you were gonna cover for _my_ story...!"

"I did," Marina confirmed as her lips curled into a playful smirk, "But this was more fun."

Danny could only bow his head shamefully as Mike and Violet watched on, the former performing a facepalm at the comedic exchange between the two before finally suggesting, "Maybe we ought to head inside now..."

"I like that idea..." Danny concurred as he regained his composure, joining everybody else as they made their way towards the hotel doors.

* * *

As soon as the four friends stepped inside, they found themselves immediately breathtaken by the sight before their eyes: the golden banquet room they were led to by the concierges looked like it was capable of fitting at least three mid-sized houses inside of it. Centered against one wall was a large stage, where a DJ booth was stationed and fitted with turntables, speakers, and all the other workings needed to power it. The gold-marble center of the room acted as the dance floor, where a sumptuous number of students in fancy garments were already whirling and twirling away. Surrounding that area were a great many circular tables clad in silky-white tablecloths, each of which were surrounded by chairs that occupied other students who weren't already up and dancing. There were a few scattered rectangular tables among the circular ones, upon which were bowls of punch and various assorted sweets. The wall opposite of the DJ booth's stage was aligned with numerous glass doors, which led to the hotel's spacious outside courtyard.

The friends made their way to one of the few unoccupied tables near the courtyard doors, which gave them a great view of the glorious outdoor space beyond. They spread themselves out around the table, each of them taking a side so that they were all sitting across from each other, yet still sitting next to their respective dates and best friends.

"Ooohhh man, this place is freakin' awesome!" Danny hollered over the loud music, practically bouncing in his seat like a giddy child as he looked around to take in the sights, "Hey, does anyone know when they're gonna serve dinner?"

"Really? You're _already_ hungry?" Marina asked as she shot him an incredulous look.

"I'm _always_ hungry!" Danny shot back, "You haven't caught onto that by now?"

Marina just shook her head, the same, _'I can't believe I've been crushing on this idiot,'_ expression forming on her face as she did so.

Mike, meanwhile, had tuned out of the conversation at Marina's retort to look towards Violet, who was averting everyone else's eyes by keeping her gaze fixed on the table before them. He could see her shifting uncomfortably in her chair, and he couldn't help but feel bad: throughout the entirety of the time the four of them had been friends, Violet had always been the quiet, shy one of the group who didn't know how to be as outgoing and positive as the others did. And what was more, now he knew that she must've been tormented by the fact that she was always hanging out with the one guy she'd ever harbored deep feelings for; and she'd never known whether or not he felt the same way because she was too afraid of being rejected if she let her feelings be known.

Wanting to break the tension that he could feel building inside of her, Mike gave her a slight tap on the shoulder, which caused her to jump slightly before realizing who it was that'd touched her. "Hey, how 'bout I go get us some punch?" Mike offered.

"Oh..." Violet sounded somewhat distant, as though she'd been pulled out of a deep thought; but she managed to put on a small smile before replying, "Yeah, that'd be great. Thanks."

Mike nodded as he stood up from the table, pushing his seat back in before walking away as he overheard Danny and Marina begin to argue about why her date hadn't offered to get punch yet too.

As he made his way to one of the nearby rectangular tables, he had the chance to take in a few more details about the environment than when he'd initially entered the room: for one thing, the electronic dance music that was blasting from the DJ booth was nothing he recognized. The most he could make out of its lyrics was something about an anaconda, and he was pretty sure that, whatever this music was, he didn't like it.

For another, he'd also taken notice of one table in the far corner of the room that was completely occupied by Dexterity High teachers, who must have been the ones who'd agreed to chaperone the dance. He spotted Dr. Crawford amongst them, who was decked out in a more formal version of his usual, blue sport coat attire. But what stood out to Mike was the small bandage that occupied one of the principal's cheeks, which Mike realized was where his Pleiades had tagged him almost a week earlier during their duel over Aeron's freedom.

His staring eventually resulted in him and Dr. Crawford's eyes locking for a brief moment, which caught Mike off-guard. But to his relief, Dr. Crawford's eyes weren't hard or even remotely resentful towards him; in fact, he saw what looked like a newfound respect in the Principal's hazel-colored eyes behind the plastic-rimmed spectacles. This was further demonstrated when he gave Mike a courteous nod, which Mike returned with an equal amount of regard before Crawford turned his attention back to his coworkers.

Mike now continued his way towards one of the rectangular tables. As he took his time pouring ladlefuls of fruit punch into a couple of the provided paper cups, he took a moment to consider how the rest of the night might've decided to unfold: thanks to Danny's earlier encouragement, he at least wasn't afraid to confess his feelings to Violet anymore; but now he was left to figure out what the best approach to doing so was.

Perhaps he could pull her aside somewhere so they could talk in private; or maybe it would just come out of him in the heat of a moment as they danced to a slow song; or maybe she would be the one to approach him with her own feelings first. He almost hoped the latter would be the case, as it would save him the trouble of having to pick a moment himself.

But to him, that just seemed too unfair to Violet. Not only had she waited just as long as he had to learn about their true feelings towards each other, but she'd also had to live with him disappearing from her life without explanation for two years. And for all that, he felt that the least he could do to make it up to her was to go to her with his feelings first.

He'd gotten so wrapped up in these thoughts that he almost didn't notice the odd phenomenon occurring behind him: a sudden hush was washing over the population of students in the large, echoing room, traveling from its front all the way to the back where Mike was standing. Even the student DJ atop the stage had lowered his music's volume to almost nothing.

Mike turned to search for the cause of the sudden silence, but what awaited his eyes came as the ultimate shock: the students out on the dance floor were all stepping backwards, clearing a path as an individual wearing an ice blue-colored tuxedo walked onto the dance floor—the one individual that struck both fear and loathing inside the hearts of each and every student in the room:

"What? Why's everyone so quiet all of a sudden?" Josiah Sullivan's question echoed around the hall as he spread his arms out openly, "I thought Dexterity High's Prom was supposed to be the biggest bash of the school year!"

From their table, Danny was now resisting the urge to stand up and shout at the sandy blonde-haired bully as he felt his insides beginning to boil. "Oh, that son of a..." he muttered acidly under his breath as his fists shakily clenched, "He actually had the nerve to show his face _here_ after all this time...?!"

"After being absent from so long, too..." Marina added in as she tried to control her own shakiness, "Why's he only showing up now...?"

Violet, too, was quivering in her seat, though not out of anger or fear for herself like most of the others. There was only one reason she could think of for Josiah to only now show his face, and at the Prom no less...

Meanwhile, Dr. Crawford was now stepping up from his seat at the teachers' table to walk out onto the dance floor, standing to face Josiah as the surrounding students stepped even further backwards now.

"It is... _good_ to see you again after all this time, Mr. Sullivan," Dexterity High's principal greeted Josiah hesitantly, "But I'm afraid I have to ask you to leave, given how long you've been absent from school."

"Oh, come on now, Doc..." Josiah retorted casually as he pulled a small slip of golden paper from his suit jacket pocket, "I bought my Prom ticket a month in advance just like everybody else. At least let me have my money's worth.

"Besides..." Josiah went on as he tucked the ticket away again, "I'm not here to put a damper on everyone's party like you're probably expecting."

A wave of confused and surprised whispers began to circulate amongst the gathered students on the dance floor, all wondering what Josiah meant. Dr. Crawford stood his ground, though he remained silent in anticipation of Josiah's explanation.

"There's only one reason I'm here..." Josiah now spoke as he turned on his heel to look around, "I'm looking for Mike Harper!"

Violet felt her stomach twist as her fears were realized. Marina's concern-filled eyes were now locked on Danny, whose fists were still balled and shaking from the pent-up rage he was struggling to restrain.

Josiah, meanwhile, continued turning to look around the room, searching for the rival he'd named. "Well?" he asked aloud, "Is Mike here with you all tonight?"

"Right here, Josiah."

Everyone in the room's heads turned to the source of the voice: Mike was now stepping his way onto the dance floor, his eyes like daggers as he locked eyes with the bully that he and Danny had fended off for years—both with their fists and on the duel field.

"Aha, there you are!" Josiah spoke casually, his expression turning to one of seriousness as he pocketed his hands, "You're looking good, Mike. Adjusted back to city life alright?"

"Cut the crap, Josiah," Mike shot back as he stopped to stand next to Dr. Crawford, "I doubt you came here just to make small talk with me. So what is it you want?"

Josiah paused to take a quick breath in, as though he was readying himself to say something impossibly difficult.

"What I want..." he finally stated, "Is to say that I'm sorry."

A surge of bewildered and unbelieving whispers broke out amongst the gathered students and staff of Dexterity high in the room. At their table, the expressions of Danny, Marina, and Violet couldn't have been more flabbergasted to hear any form of apology escape Josiah Sullivan's lips. Not once had he ever been known to feel even remotely remorseful for any of the abuse he'd dealt out to them, much less to any of the other students he'd victimized over the last seven years.

"It's true," Josiah persisted to Mike in response to everyone else's uncertain mutterings, "And I'm not just here to say sorry to you, or you friends. I'm here to apologize to everybody in this room, and everyone else I've wronged over the last few years."

"So what, you think waltzing in here just to say you're ' _sorry_ ' will make up for everything you've put us all through?!" Danny finally blurted out angrily as he shot up from his seat.

A pained look came to Josiah's face as he locked eyes with the orange-tuxed teen. "Of course not..." he responded somberly, "There's nothing I could ever say that would instantly make up for the awful things I've done."

Josiah turned away from the now-surprised Danny to look back to Mike, who was still eyeing him cautiously. "You may not believe me when I say this, but I've changed..." he explained solemnly, "All I'm asking for is the chance to prove it to all of you; right here, right now."

"And just how do you intend to do that?" Mike inquired as his eyes narrowed skeptically.

In response, Josiah rapidly raised up his left arm, allowing the sleeve to fall back and reveal his blue and white-colored duel disk beneath it. "The only way I know I _can_ prove it to you..." Josiah spoke as he lowered his arm, "Through a duel!"

Mike stared long and hard at Josiah as he took in this answer. The rest of the gathered Juniors and Seniors, including Danny, Marina, and Violet, were all anxiously awaiting Mike's response to this proposal.

Finally, Mike broke the tense silence as he said, "A duel, huh...?"

And then, just as rapidly as Josiah had, Mike's left arm now shot into the air as well, his own sleeve falling to reveal his own black and silver duel disk hidden beneath his sleeve, which brought a number of gasps from the other surrounding students.

"I suppose I'll take you on, then," Mike finally answered, "To see if you really _have_ changed."

Back at their table, Danny's eyes were nearly popping out of his head as he realized, "Wait, he's been keeping his duel disk hidden there this whole time?! Freaking how?!"

Violet's eyes widened as she silently realized the answer to Danny's question: _'When he ran into his room earlier...'_ she figured as the memory from earlier that night replayed in her head, _'He wasn't just getting his ticket...'_

She felt her heart sink as the fact sank into her: _'I guess there really is no convincing him to actually take a paranoia-free night off...'_

As for Josiah, his lips now curled into a small smirk at Mike's acceptance of his challenge. "Glad to see your resolve is as strong as ever," he said, "How about we take this outside, then?"

* * *

Everybody else followed suit as Mike and Josiah stepped out into the hotel's courtyard. The two duelists positioned themselves on opposite sides of the long fountain in the center, where they stood shuffling their decks as the rest of the students and faculty formed a crowd that circled around them. There were still whispers spreading among the body of people, all of them wondering what they were about to witness through this duel.

Danny, Marina, and Violet managed to stay at the front of the crowd, taking spots directly behind Mike as they watched the two ready themselves for this duel.

"Does anybody else feel like this might be a huge waste of time?" Marina asked contemptuously, which gained the attention of her two friends standing on either side of her.

"What do you mean?" Violet asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I mean, does anybody really believe that Josiah can actually prove he's changed through this duel?" Marina clarified, "What about this duel could actually convince us all that Josiah's telling the truth? For all we know, this could just be a front to hide that he just wants a rematch against Mike so that he can beat him in front of most of the student body."

"That could be the case," Danny acknowledged, "But what if it's not...?"

Violet's and Marina's eyes turned to Danny with surprise, while the latter's gaze remained fixated on his best friend. "Before my duel with Aeron, he'd said that a true duelist can see into the heart and soul of another through their dueling," he explained to the two girls, "And I'm willing to bet that Mike learned how to do that from Aeron over the last two years.

"So if Josiah _is_ telling the truth..." Danny now spoke with certainty in his voice, "Then Mike's the only one here who can find out for sure."

Both of the girls' expressions turned to surprise at these words, though Marina's definitely showed the most surprise before she and Violet turned to see that the two rivals were about to begin:

"You ready for this, Mike?" Josiah called out as he replaced his deck in his duel disk, which activated upon the insertion.

"I'm never _not_ ready, Josiah..." was Mike's answer as he too replaced his deck, causing his duel disk to activate too, "So come at me with everything you've got!"

And without any further hesitation, the two dealt their first five cards from their duel disks before finally crying out, "LET'S DUEL!"

 **[Mike - LP: 8000]**

 **[Josiah - LP: 8000]**

As soon as the word was said, the surrounding crowd of students and staff alike instantly fell silent as Josiah offered, "Since I challenged you, I'll give you the first move."

"How courteous," Mike replied as he drew his first card.

"I'll start by summoning Constellar Pollux in ATK mode!" Mike decided.

 **[Constellar Pollux - LV: 4/ATK: 1700]**

"And in case you weren't aware, Pollux has a special ability that allows me to normal summon one more Constellar monster this turn!" Mike explained as he pulled another card from his hand, "So by releasing him, I can advance summon Constellar Zubeneschamali!"

 **[Constellar Zubeneschamali - LV: 5/ATK: 2100]**

"And now for his effect!" Mike went on, "When Zubeneschamali is summoned to the field, I can take any Constellar monster from my deck, and add it to my hand! So I'll add my Constellar Kaus!"

The card popped out from his deck zone as he explained the effect, and he proceeded to add the card to his hand before concluding: "Then I'll set one card face down, and end my turn."

"My turn, then!" Josiah said as he drew.

He glanced quickly to the card that he'd drawn, before locking eyes with Mike once more as he started: "I summon my Strategist of the Ice Barrier!"

 **[Strategist of the Ice Barrier - LV: 4/ATK: 1600]**

More confused and surprised whispers now fluttered through the crowd of students and staff at the sight of this new being.

"Strategist of the Ice Barrier..." Marina repeated aloud, "So Josiah's using some kind of new deck?"

"Yeah, Ice Barriers," Danny confirmed, "Though I gotta say, I can't remember the last time I ever heard of someone using that kind of deck..."

"Next, I'll use my Strategist's special ability!" Josiah continued, "By discarding one other Ice Barrier monster from my hand, I get to draw another card!"

Mike watched as Josiah carried out this effect, before he went on: "Then, I'll activate my Medallion of the Ice Barrier spell card! With this, I add one more Ice Barrier monster from my deck to my hand; and I choose my Prior!"

Once again, Josiah added another card to his hand before he said, "Now, since I control at least one other Ice Barrier monster on my field, I can now special summon Prior directly to the field!"

 **[Prior of the Ice Barrier - LV: 2/DEF: 400]**

"And to end my turn, I'll set two cards face down," Josiah finished, "Your move, Mike."

Mike was silent for a moment as he inspected Josiah's side of the field. "So then..." Mike said, "You're the one using a new deck this time around... so is this what you meant by saying you'd changed, Josiah?"

"Not quite," Josiah corrected him, "But it's part of it. You'll see for yourself soon enough."

"I'll hold you to that," Mike said as he drew his next card.

He smirked for a moment as soon as he saw what he'd drawn. "I'll play a little spell card that you ought to know pretty well: Constellar Star Chart!"

"Aw, yeah!" Danny cried out as smiles broke out on his, Violet's, and Marina's faces, "We all know what that means!"

Josiah watched intently as Mike continued: "Next I'll summon Constellar Kaus!"

 **[Constellar Kaus - LV: 4/ATK: 1800]**

"And thanks to his effect, I can either increase or decrease the LV of any Constellar monster I want by one! So I'll bring Zubeneschamali down from 5 to 4!"

 **[Constellar Zubeneschamali - LV: 4]**

"Now that they're the same LV, I think I'll overlay them!" Mike cried out as his two monster offered themselves up to a spatial portal, "And in doing so, I Xyz summon Constellar Praesepe!"

 **[Constellar Praesepe - RK: 4/ATK: 2400]**

"And by Xyz summoning him, my Constellar Star Chart lets me draw one more card from my deck!" Mike said as he carried out the effect.

"Now, Constellar Praesepe! Attack Strategist of the Ice Barrier!" Mike declared as he pointed to Josiah's monster.

"I'm afraid he can't, Mike."

Everyone's heads turned to Josiah, who was smiling as his comment erected looks of confusion from everyone else. "Didn't you notice?" he inquired as he pointed at Mike's golden warrior, "Your monster's been switched into DEF mode!"

Mike's eyebrows rose with shock as he looked to his monster, who was now kneeling into a defensive position as he grunted unwillingly.

 **[Constellar Praesepe - DEF: 800]**

"What...?" Mike uttered with confusion, "But how...?!"

"It's pretty simple, actually," Josiah explained as he pointed to his now-flipped card, "Before you Xyz summoned your Praesepe, I activated the continuous trap card: Eisbahn! As long as I control a WATER attribute monster on my side of the field, any other non-WATER monsters that are summoned are automatically switched to DEF mode!"

Astonished mutterings once again spread through the body of students and staff at this explanation. Danny, Marina, and Violet, on the other hand, all had taken-aback expressions as they took in Josiah's words.

"That's not a move like Josiah's ever played before," Violet said with surprise.

"I'll say..." Danny agreed, "Guess Josiah's _really_ upped his game since we last saw him."

Mike's expression, meanwhile, now returned to its usual calmness as he processed what had just happened. "Impressive, Josiah," Mike complimented him, "Nothing like the usual headstrong and sloppy maneuvers I'm used to seeing from you.

"Well, like I said," Josiah reminded him, "I've become a different person since we last dueled."

A small smile now came to Mike's face, as though he were starting to believe that Josiah's words about having changed were true.

"I'll finish with one more card face down," Mike concluded, "Turn end."

"Then I draw!" Josiah said as he drew his next card, "And I'll begin by using Strategist's effect once more: by discarding my Spellbreaker of the Ice Barrier, I get to draw another card!"

Josiah carried out this effect before continuing: "Now I'll activate the effect of my Prior! By releasing himself, he can revive one Ice Barrier monster from my graveyard to my field!

"And the monster I'm resurrecting..." Josiah explained as his Prior faded away, "Is the monster I discarded when I first used Strategist's effect: come forth, General Gantala of the Ice Barrier!"

 **[General Gantala of the Ice Barrier - LV: 7/ATK: 2700]**

The muscled military man burst out from beneath the water of the fountain before Josiah, earning a great number of gasps from the surrounding crowd as the powerful creature took to the latter's field.

"Okay, Josiah's officially breaking all of the rules of how he used to play!" Danny said as he watched on, barely able to believe what he was seeing.

"That's an understatement," Marina agreed, "Just where did he learn to duel like this?"

"And more than that..." Violet said with concern, "Can Mike still beat him with how strong he is now...?"

Josiah now went on: "Next, I'll summon one more monster to the field: Defender of the Ice Barrier!"

 **[Defender of the Ice Barrier - LV: 3/ATK: 200]**

"Cute little wolf," Mike commented, "But his ATK strength doesn't pack much of a punch."

"He doesn't need to," Josiah shot back, "That's what my Gantala's for!

"But before he attacks, I'll have my Strategist of the Ice Barrier go first!" Josiah declared, "Attack Mike's Praesepe!"

Strategist leaped up from his spot on Josiah's side of the field, unfolding his blue hand-fan as he prepared to strike at Mike's monster.

But as soon as he swept down to attack, Mike countered: "I reveal my trap card: Mirror Force! All of your ATK mode monsters are now destroyed!"

Strategist was propelled back by an invisible force before he could make contact with Praesepe, before he, as well as Gantala and Defender, shattered at the effect of Mike's trap.

Hollers and cheers now erupted from the surrounding crowd at Mike's move, but he ignored the noise and kept his eyes on Josiah's expression: despite having watched all of his monsters get destroyed in one shot, he didn't seem fazed in the slightest.

 _'Something's not right...'_ Mike silently realized, _'Could it be that he...?'_

"I predicted as much from you, Mike."

Mike's eyes widened as he heard Josiah finish his thought for him, which brought a wave of silence over the crowd as he explained, "You've used that Mirror Force card against me plenty of times; and I even used it against you during our last duel! You really thought I wasn't ready for such a move?"

Mike's gritted his teeth as Josiah now flipped his set card: "I activate the trap card, Torrential Rebirth! This card activates when one or more of my monsters are destroyed; then, as long as there was at least one WATER-attribute monster amongst them, I can then special summon every single one of them back to my field all at once!"

Mike watched with shock as the three of Josiah's monsters burst out from beneath the water of the fountain before them, each of them with expressions that made it clear they were ready to take their vengeance against Mike for how he'd destroyed them all.

 **[Strategist of the Ice Barrier - LV: 4/ATK: 1600]**

 **[General Gantala of the Ice Barrier - LV: 7/ATK: 2700]**

 **[Defender of the Ice Barrier - LV: 3/DEF: 1600]**

"And to add insult to injury, Torrential Reborn has one other effect!" Josiah added in, "For every monster that comes back, you take 500 points of damage!"

"Wait, but then that's 1500 points!" Danny realized with panic as he and everyone else all watched as the monsters on Josiah's field now plunged themselves into the water fountain below their feet, sending a wave of water over to Mike's side that submerged him momentarily as he took the trap card's damage.

 **[Mike - LP: 6500]**

"Unbelievable..." Marina muttered with awe as Mike reemerged from the holographic waves that had engulfed him, "Josiah's gotten even stronger than we thought..."

"No kidding," Danny agreed, "His deck's become so resourceful that he barely touched _any_ of the cards in his hand this turn."

"Mike..." was all Violet could utter tremblingly as she watched on, her hand coming up to rest where she could feel her heart beating at a million miles an hour in her chest.

Mike, meanwhile, now brought himself back to full height as he regained his composure. "Not bad, Josiah..." he commended his opponent, "You've definitely become a much stronger duelist; I'll give you that much.

"But now, the kid gloves are coming off..." Mike told him as a small smirk came to his face, "You said you wanted to show us that you'd changed as a _person_ through this duel, right? Then it's high time that you proved it!"

* * *

 _ **To Be Continued...**_

* * *

 **Next Time**

 **Chapter 11: "Redemption - Part 2"**

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

 _So since I've got no recommendations to make for stories this time 'round, I've got something a little different in mind: between this chapter and the next one (given these are Parts 1 & 2), I'm gonna open up this story's first..._

 ** _QnA PANEL!_**

 _So in your reviews, should you choose to post one, I ask that you post any number of questions you have for me about the story, or anything about me in general. Concerning the story, it can be just about anything you can think of relating to it: something about the characters, the story, the lore, the history of the story's creation, etc. ^^ For other, more generalized questions, I just ask that you keep them just that: general. I'm not giving out any real-world information about myself._ o.O

 _Also, before I forget: I need to give the biggest shoutout ever to Komori Rias/silvernet for being my substitute beta reader for this chapter, and having spent these last months with me throughout the process. Your helpfulness and patience in dealing with my bullsh*t has been inspiring, and I honestly don't think I'd have gotten through writing this thing without you. If you guys haven't, I suggest you go and give her stories a gander too—she has great material that's seriously under-appreciated on here. I'd give my usual shout-outs to them right now... if I actually had time to read them through to their current points... (I know, I'm sorry. I'm gonna get to reading them soon, I promise. ;-;)_

 ** _*UPDATE*_** _The_ _ **QnA PANEL!**_ _is now closed and no longer accepting questions, as of November 2nd, 2016._

* * *

 ** _\- Last Revised: May 2, 2017 -_**


	10. Redemption - Part 1

**Yu-Gi-Oh! Mark of Death**

 **Chapter 10: "Redemption - Part 1"**

 **Opening Theme: "Raining" by Art Of Dying**

 **Ending Theme: "Behind Blue Eyes" by Limp Bizkit**

* * *

The last bell of Dexterity High School's day rang, signaling the sudden explosion of classroom doors swinging open as students flooded into the facility's hallways. The echo of clamoring footsteps and loud chattering was overwhelming as the few hundred teens in the building made their way towards either the stairwell, their lockers, or the school's front doors so that they could head home.

Amongst them, Violet was one of few who made a beeline straight for their locker, where she began putting away her textbooks as the boring facts from her last class faded from her mind. Her thoughts couldn't stop going back to the night of the incident with Dr. Crawford and Aeron almost a week earlier; particularly what might've been said in Mike's last exchange with his former mentor before they had returned to her apartment.

She, Danny, and Marina had gotten used to Mike keeping some distance from them ever since his return to County Dame. After all, they couldn't blame him for needing a little time to adjust back to his normal life—especially now that they knew he'd spent the last two years in a place that had been like a constant war zone. But ever since that night, it had started to feel like he was trying to shut them out entirely: he'd stopped joining them in the abandoned trailer after school during the week, and it had become such a rare occurrence to see him around the apartment that it was beginning to feel like he was more an occasional visitor than an actual resident of the place. And no matter how many times any of them ever tried to call him on his cell, he never answered.

The only reason Violet could think of as to why Mike had become so much more distant was what he and Aeron might've discussed during their last conversation the weekend before. When she'd asked him if everything was okay afterwards, she'd could tell there was a hint of deceit in his voice when he'd said that everything was "going to be fine." She'd known him long enough to know when he was trying to hide something; and the look on his face, the way he'd voiced his response, and the way he was now distancing himself so far from everyone were surefire signs that something was weighing heavily on his mind.

But what was really driving Violet mad was the thought of Mike and Aeron's last conversation most likely being about the missing friend of theirs that they had been trying to locate—the _girl_ that she'd overheard Mike talking about over the phone the night before that whole episode. Despite having learned about Mike's true feelings towards her from Aeron, she couldn't help but think about the possibility of Mike potentially harboring feelings for this other girl too, and that _she_ was why Mike had started pushing himself away from Violet and the others...

Violet shook her head as she forced those thoughts out of her mind. Ever since Mike had gotten back, she'd been thinking way too deeply into how Mikw might've felt towards her, and anymore thinking about it would wind up driving her insane. Not only that, but there was always the possibility that this girl that Mike and Aeron were looking for really was _just_ a friend. Nothing to be jealous of in that.

So with that thought in mind, Violet exhaled deeply as she closed the door to her locker, still clutching the few folders she needed for homework as she silently promised to herself that she wouldn't let the thought of this other girl bother her anymore. After all, these thoughts only came from her making hypothetical assumptions, and there was no good that could come from assuming anything.

"Hey, Violet!"

Violet nearly jumped out of her own skin as she shrieked, earning a few confused glances from other passing students as she turned to see where the sudden voice had come from: there was Danny and Marina, standing where she hadn't been able to see them before when her locker door was open. Danny, whose upper attire had changed to a red T-shirt with black, plastic bracelets on his wrists, had clearly been highly amused by Violet's startled reaction from the smirk on his face, while Marina looked more annoyed by her crush's apparent joviality from the situation.

"Danny! What the hell?!" Violet nearly shouted at him as she tightly clutched her folders, "Don't scare me like that! It's not funny!"

"Not for nothing, but it actually _was_ a little funny," Danny replied, rubbing the back of his head as he grinned innocently.

Behind him, Marina scoffed as she crossed her arms. "Your stupid type of humor is never funny..." she said under her breath.

Danny turned to shoot her an annoyed look. "It's called _slapstick_ humor, Marina..." he muttered back in a low tone, " _Slap_. _Stick_. Ever heard of _The Three Stooges?_ "

Marina rolled her eyes uncaringly, while Violet's face deadpanned as she listened to them bicker. Over the last week, these kinds of verbal skirmishes between the two had become so increasingly frequent, that nearly everyone in the school was beginning to realize that their hostility was clearly a front to mask their true feelings for each other.

Now Violet heaved an exasperated sigh. " _Anyways_..." she cut in before their debacle went any further, "What's up?"

Marina's attention returned to Violet as she explained, "We just wanted to know whether or not you invited Mike to go to the Prom tomorrow night."

"Oh..." Violet said with sudden realization as her eyes widened, "Right..."

Amidst all of the insanity in her mind, she'd completely forgotten that the Junior-Senior Prom was now only two days away. She, Danny, and Marina had all bought their tickets in advance the month before, and she and Marina had already shopped for their dresses in preparation. And of course, the school was letting everybody out early the day of the dance so that they could get themselves all dressed up and ready to look fashionable for the big night.

Now Danny and Marina were seeing the answer to their question in Violet's face as realization spread across it, which made Danny sigh as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "Lemme guess: you haven't even _seen_ him lately, have you?" he guessed.

Violet only shook her head in response. During the few instances she _did_ see Mike at the apartment, he was usually stepping in just to quickly grab something from his room before running back out again.

It was Marina's turn to sigh sadly, before saying, "I remember back when you guys were Sophomores, and I was still a Freshman..."

Violet's and Danny's eyes were on Marina now as she recalled, "It was before Mike had disappeared... we made a promise that we'd all go to the Prom together during you guys' Senior year; since I couldn't go as a Sophomore, and you'd all be gone when I was a Senior..."

The memory of that promise now returned to the minds of Violet and Danny, as the latter dropped his backpack on the floor before leaning against one of the lockers with one arm. "Yeah, I remember that promise too..." he said thoughtfully, "But we wouldn't really be keeping that promise if Mike wasn't with us..."

Marina nodded in agreement as her and Danny's eyes returned to Violet, who felt their piercing gazes as she realized what they were asking of her: she was the only one with a good chance of getting Mike to go to that dance the following night—to fulfill that promise they'd made two years ago.

"Guys, look..." she started, though she didn't exactly know where she was going with her words, "Just... with how he's been for the last few days... I'm not really sure he'd even _want_ to go, given how he's been..."

"Well, maybe that's all the more reason we _should_ ask him to come."

All eyes turned to Danny now as he explained: "Think about it: if he's all mopey 'cause something's bothering him, then maybe a little dance party with his friends is just what he needs to help him get whatever's on his mind, _off_ of it!"

Marina couldn't help but raise surprised eyebrows at this. It was seldom that she heard Danny trying to be the voice of reason in their group, much less being one with an idea that was actually decent. And for it, she couldn't help but give him a small smile of admiration.

Violet, meanwhile, felt her spirits lifting up a little as Danny looked back to her. "They're still selling Prom tickets in the front office 'til school closes," he told her, "How 'bout you grab one for Mike, and just see if he'll take it?"

Violet nodded in understanding as a smile finally came to her face. "Alright, I'll try," she promised him, "Thanks, Danny."

"Don't mention it," Danny said as he pushed himself back into a standing position from the locker, "I just hope you find him in time."

"But until then..." Danny took a moment to stretch his arms as he spoke, "I gotta get started on my walk home. I forgot my skateboard like an idiot today, and of course they decided to load us with homework tonight, so I'm gonna need a bit of a head-start."

And with that, he picked up his bag again before giving a small wave to the girls as he said, "Later."

"See you," Violet and Marina said back in unison as their eyes followed him into the stairwell, before Marina turned to look at Violet with what could only be described as a dreamy look.

"Is it just me, or has Danny suddenly gotten a little more... _mature_ over the last few days...?" she asked as her hand absentmindedly started playing with her hair.

Violet let out a small laugh. "Well, maybe not his sense of humor..." she muttered with slight disdain from her earlier scare, "But I admit, there's definitely been some kind of change in him. He's actually been doing a lot better in class, somehow."

"You think maybe it has something to do with that duel he had with Aeron?" Marina questioned as she looked to the door that her crush had just walked through.

"Maybe..." Violet said as she too looked to where their friend had walked out from.

* * *

It wasn't long before Violet exited the school to get onto her bus, where she immediately started getting chewed out by the bus driver for making him wait so long. But his indignant complaints were hardly capable of bothering her, as she'd gotten used to hearing far worse scoldings from her father whenever he'd been in a drunken stupor over the last year.

That aside, she'd at least managed to pick up one last Prom ticket from the school office. Unfortunately, that was the easier part of trying to convince Mike to come with her and the others to the Prom the following night; the real challenge would be actually seeing him, if she was lucky enough. The odds of running into him around the apartment before the day ended seemed pretty slim as they were, and the idea of trying to go find him seemed even more absurd, given County Dame's size.

These thoughts circulated in Violet's mind for the entirety of her bus ride home, and only by the time she had been dropped off in front of her apartment did she come to the conclusion that she would just have to hope that whatever deity of luck existed in the world would smile on her for long enough to let Mike drop by the apartment at some point soon. But until then, she had to be patient.

As she rode the elevator up to her apartment floor, she took the few moments she had to herself to rehearse how she ought to approach Mike with her offer. The only way she could think to bring it up was to remind him about the promise they had made for Marina all those years ago; but to her, that seemed more like she was trying to guilt him into going rather than convincing him to join them for a fun night out, and she didn't want her invitation to sound like that.

She paused these thoughts as she stepped through the elevator onto her floor, made her way to the apartment door, and opened it as she called, "Dad? You home?"

"In the kitchen!" she heard Bulbous's high-spirited voice ring out in response.

Violet couldn't help but crack a smirk. It had been so long since she'd ever heard, much less seen, her father be genuinely happy; and to finally hear it in his voice again was an uplifting experience for her every time she did.

She made her way to the kitchen, rounding the corner to see her father sitting at the small table against the wall, eating salad out of a bowl while looking over a small pile of paper in his hands. She couldn't help but arch a surprised eyebrow as she glanced from the salad to her father.

"I don't think I've seen you even _touch_ a green food in the last year or so," she said, crossing her arms as if she was unable to believe what she was looking at.

"Yeah, well..." Bulbous said sheepishly as he scratched at his sides, "I said I was gonna make right everything I've been doing wrong... my diet's on that list too."

Violet gave a small chuckle before her attention shifted to the papers in Bulbous's hands. "What're those for?" she questioned as she pointed at them.

Bulbous put the papers down before turning to his daughter. "Just some documents I gotta read over from the bank," he explained, before a grin suddenly spread across his lips as he finished ecstatically, "So that they'll give me the loan to help me open up the deli again!"

Violet's jaw dropped as a wide smile spread across her face at her father's words. "Wait, are you serious...?!" she managed to breathe out, barely able to contain her excitement at the thought.

Bulbous stretched out his arms in a celebratory manner as he proudly boomed out, "We're gettin' the deli back, baby!"

Violet couldn't stop herself from squealing delightedly as she threw herself into her father's arms, wrapping her own around him as she cried out, "Oh my god! I can't believe it!"

Bulbous returned the embrace as he laughed heartily at his daughter's enthusiasm. "I told you everything was gonna go back to normal, didn't I?" he reminded her brightly, "Pretty soon, we'll have all the money we'll ever need again, and it'll be just like the good ol' days!"

Violet pulled away to lock eyes with her father as she beamed at him. The deli hadn't just been Bulbous's pride and joy that he'd made a living off of; it had been their home for as long as she could remember. The whole upstairs of the original building had actually been an living space that Bulbous built on his own so that he could save money by living where he worked, and it was where he'd raised Violet for the first sixteen years of her life. So when they'd been forced to move out of there after the vermin infestation, it had left Violet more heartbroken than she had thought was possible after learning that Mike had disappeared. But now, the idea that she was finally going to be able to go back to where she had considered her "true" home to be was one thought that couldn't have made her any happier.

"What's all the excitement about?"

Both Violet and Bulbous's heads turned sharply to look where the voice had come from: there was Mike, standing in the entryway between the kitchen and the living room, looking at the two of them with a slightly confused expression.

Violet forced herself to suppress a scream as she felt her mind and body go numb at the sight of him. There really WAS a deity of luck somewhere out there, and it was smiling down on her today.

Bulbous, meanwhile, stood from his chair as he exclaimed, "There you are, Mike! I was just tellin' Violet about how we're finally re-opening the deli!"

Mike's eyes widened at this. "Wow, that's..." he stumbled over his words, sounding as though he didn't know what to say or how to react to this information, "That's... awesome. Really. I'm glad to hear it."

While Bulbous seemed to take Mike's reaction as if he seemed so overjoyed by this news that he couldn't even speak, Violet wasn't as easily fooled: she could almost see the thoughts racing through his mind that must have been distracting him from fully embracing what he'd heard; otherwise, she knew that Mike would've jumped for joy as much as she had.

Now, Bulbous continued: "I was thinkin' of taking us all out for dinner to celebrate! Whattaya say, Mike?"

Mike's expression reverted to its usual seriousness as he replied, "Ah; much as I'd love to, I was actually just stopping by to grab something from my room real quick. Sorry."

Disappointment spread across Bulbous's face as Mike turned towards the hallway, which immediately raised an alarm in Violet's head that jolted her back to her senses. She immediately scurried after him as she hurriedly cried out, "Wait!"

Mike came to a halt halfway through his trek towards his room, before turning to watch as Violet skidded to a stop in front of him. But the moment she looked up to meet his eyes, she couldn't find her voice to speak. She had been riding on the hope that she would at least have a little more time before seeing Mike later that day, so that she could plan out how she wanted to approach him about Prom. But now he was here, standing before her a lot sooner than she'd expected, and she was without a plan.

Now Mike was raising a confused eyebrow as he looked down at Violet, waiting to hear what she had to say. "Yes...?" he asked her, which snapped her back to reality with a blink.

"Well..." she started, trying to force the words out of herself, "You see, it's just that... the _Prom_ is tomorrow night..."

Bulbous, who had sat back down at the kitchen table to continue eating his salad and look over his papers, now froze mid-chomp as his ears perked up from what he'd overheard.

Mike, meanwhile, continued to stare inquisitively at Violet as she finally said, "And I was wondering if... maybe you'd like to... _go with me...?_ "

As soon as the words escaped her lips, Violet immediately felt herself beginning to blush as she realized how her invitation had come out. Similarly, Mike now averted his eyes as his cheeks also turned tomato-red; the uncomfortable expression on his face making it clear that this was the last thing he'd been prepared to face today.

"I, uh..." he stammered, struggling to find the right words to respond with, "Er... I mean… well—"

"Of COURSE he'd like to go with you!"

The sudden booming voice from behind made Mike jump slightly, before turning his head to see Bulbous standing right behind him, placing his giant hands on Mike's shoulders as he said, "After all, Mike's not the kind of guy who'd turn down an invite like that, let alone make you go all by yourself! He's too much of a gentleman to let that happen!"

Bulbous now shot an intense glare down at Mike as he said, almost threateningly, " _Right, Mike?_ "

Mike seemed to suddenly shrink before Bulbous as a half-dumbfounded, half-terrified expression spread across his face. It was clear that his mind was failing to come up with a response to anything that was happening at this point

Violet, meanwhile, couldn't stop a grateful smile from spreading across her lips at her father's interference in that moment. Of all the aspects of his daughter's life, the one part he'd always refused to directly involve himself in was her romantic life, as he'd always believed in that being nobody else's business but her own. Even so, he'd always known how Violet had always cared for Mike; and aside from the brief stint he'd had some few weeks before, he'd never once objected to him being his daughter's love interest. And now, here he was, finally deciding to step in to help his daughter finally bring her lifelong dream of being with him to fruition.

Eventually, Mike was able to break his gaze away from Bulbous's fierce eyes as he looked to meet Violet's hopeful ones again. He let out a small sigh as he realized there was no arguing his way out of this, before finally saying, "Y'know what? Sure. Could be fun, I suppose."

Violet was ready to burst into tears of joy the moment she heard those words, but she held herself back once more. Bulbous, on the other hand, removed his hands from Mike's shoulders, patting him on the back instead now as he then said, "That's more like it! Now, that just leave one thing we gotta take care of."

A curious expression overtook both Violet's and Mike's faces as they looked up at Bulbous. "And that is...?" Mike inquired, his tone implying that he was partially scared of what the answer might be.

"Well, Violet already bought her dress for Prom last month," Bulbous explained as he circled around to stand next to his daughter, "So she's all set for tomorrow night.

"But _you_ , on the other hand..." Bulbous said, a humored smile now spreading across his face as the thought of what he was about to say next reached his mind, "We need to get you into a suit!"

If Mike's eyes could've widened more than they had at Bulbous's words, they very well might've fallen out of his skull as his skin paled and he appallingly said, "Oh, _no_..."

* * *

 _ **\- THE NEXT DAY -**_

"OHHH YEAH!" Danny burst through the Kohl's changing room door with enthusiasm, "I feel really good about this one! Whattaya think, Mike?"

The blonde looked away from the suits he was currently looming over to inspect his loud friend: he was dressed up in a bright-orange tuxedo jacket, with a frilled shirt and bowtie of matching color worn beneath it. His legs had donned orange pants, held up by a belt of same color around his waist. His choice of footwear was orange, slip-on dress shoes, which made him look even more excessively ridiculous than the rest of his attire already did. The orange top hat resting on his head brought the rest of the outfit together, while also driving said point of ridiculousness home.

Mike just shook his head at Danny with distaste. "Yeah, _no_..." he told him as he looked his absurd apparel up and down, "Not unless you want to go looking like Jim Carrey in _Dumb and Dumber_."

He casually went back to examining the suits in front of him, while Danny's face changed from ecstatic to disgruntled at Mike's words before looking down at his frilly garments, realizing his best friend was right.

"Damn it..." he muttered defeatedly as he threw his top hat frisbee-style back into the changing room, "Seriously, why can't I find any _good_ suits...?"

"That's what you get for going tux shopping at the last minute," Mike stated, without looking up this time.

Danny rolled his eyes as he slid off the orange tux jacket, before questioning, "Well, what are _you_ planning on going in, then?"

Mike picked up a plain, black suit jacket and a white, short-sleeved, button-up shirt to look at side-by-side as he answered, "Eh, you know me... I like to keep things simple."

Danny nodded in acknowledgment before he started trying to find the buttons beneath all of the frills on his shirt, which he eventually gave up on after a minute of struggling before deciding to change the subject:

" _So_..." he started awkwardly, "You planning on finally asking Violet out tonight?"

Mike, who had started trying on the white button-up shirt he'd picked up before, now stopped abruptly before letting out a heavy sigh. "I don't know," he admitted before looking over to Danny, "Are _you_ planning on finally asking out Marina?"

Danny opened his mouth to respond, but quickly shut it when he realized what had come out of his friend's mouth. "Wait, how did you—?"

"I've been living with Violet, remember?" Mike reminded him with a somewhat sly smile, "She filled me in about you two last week."

"Of _course_ she did..." Danny mumbled as he put his forehead against the wall, embarrassed.

Mike shook his head at Danny's comical reaction. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, she failed to tell me _why_ you two seem to be so infatuated with each other all of a sudden," he told him as he continued buttoning up the shirt, "Because last either of us checked, you two only put up with each other for the sake of your friendship with me, and her friendship with Violet."

Danny lifted his head from the wall as he turned to Mike with a serious expression—a face that Mike wasn't used to seeing on him. He hoped that he hadn't somehow offended Danny, but the latter could see it in his best friend's eyes that he wasn't trying to tease him about the subject: he genuinely wanted an answer to his question.

Danny heaved a sigh as he looked away, a thoughtful expression coming to his face before he finally started: "It was a little over a year after you'd disappeared... we'd all stopped going to the trailer together after school, what with Violet having to deal with her dad losing his deli and all..."

Mike's expression was attentive as Danny explained, "After that, Marina and I kinda started hanging out together on our own... we were seeing Violet less and less outside of school since her dad was turning into such a hard-ass. So it really felt like the two of us only had each other as friends for a while. And throughout all that... well, I dunno..."

A small smile began to form on Danny's face. "I guess..." he figured, "With all that time we spent getting to really know each other, I couldn't help but start feeling... ' _things_ ' for her..."

"So what's kept you from just asking her out already?" Mike asked as he finished buttoning up the white shirt.

Danny turned his head up to look at Mike again, before scoffing at himself. "The same reasons you've been hesitant to ask out Violet, I suppose," he retorted as he stood up straight again, "Fear of rejection; her not feeling the same way; that sorta thing."

Mike's brow furrowed at this comparison, which Danny immediately caught onto before saying, "Hey, don't try and tell me that's not what your problem is. We've been having this same conversation since seventh grade."

It was Mike's turn to look away now, and Danny could see it in his old friend's eyes: the same fear that had glossed over his ocean-blue orbs during all of their previous discussions about the subject before. Yet, at the same time, he could tell that there was something... different about this look than what he was used to seeing, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was...

"It's not that I'm afraid of rejection."

Danny now raised a confused eyebrow as he watched Mike turn to look at himself in the mirror next to the changing room door. "Shortly after I got back, I kind of figured out that she really has felt the same way about me for a long time," he explained, his mind flashing back to his first conversation with Dr. Crawford and the night Violet had kissed him on the cheek, "If I were to try and ask her out now, she'd probably say 'yes' without hesitation."

He now turned to lock eyes with Danny again. "The reason I'm scared to..." he said shakily as his fists clenched, "Is because I know she's in love with the innocent boy that I used to be; not the scarred man who came back from Frontier Haven."

Danny rubbed the back of his head as he digested Mike's words, letting out a low whistle while doing so. He kept forgetting that his best friend was now a damaged victim of war, and there was still so much about him that he didn't fully know or understand. And because of that, he was unsure of what were the right things to say that wouldn't send Mike over some kind of edge, which was the last thing he wanted to do to his best friend.

"Damn..." he started, trying to choose his words carefully as he spoke, "That's some heavy stuff... I'm not really sure what to say to that.

"But what I _will_ say is this..." He now walked up to Mike to meet him face-to-face as he said, "If Violet really does care about you as much as she's claimed to all this time, then it shouldn't matter what you've been through throughout the last two years, or what kind of person you think it turned you into."

Mike's eyes widened slightly at these words as Danny continued: "To her, you're _still_ the boy that she remembers growing up with—the same boy she fell in love with all those years ago."

Mike's lips curled into an appreciative smile as he let those words sink into him. "You really think so...?" Mike asked, a small glimmer of hope in his voice.

"Without a doubt in my mind," Danny answered as he returned the smile with an encouraging one of his own.

Mike's grin widened a little more, before nodding to let Danny know he'd taken in his words. "Thanks, man," he said to him gratefully.

Danny only patted his best friend on the shoulder as he replied, "Anytime."

Now Mike turned to pick up the black suit jacket he'd been holding earlier, and proceeded to try it on before turning to Danny for his input. "So... how do I look?" he asked.

Danny looked his best friend up and down, a mildly jealous expression appearing on his face as he did so. "Better than I do, at least..." he assured him before shooting an annoyed glance down at his shirt of unending frills.

* * *

It was around 5:10 PM by the time Mike and Danny walked out of the Kohl's store with their new suits, already dressed up in them given the Prom was less than an hour away.

In the end, Mike's choice of attire was the black suit jacket and white shirt he'd tried on earlier, as well as black suit pants and dress shoes to match. He'd left the top button of his white shirt undone, not wanting to deal with feeling like it was choking him the whole night. Around his neck hung a black skinny tie, which he'd also left hanging loosely around his neck to prevent discomfort.

Danny, meanwhile, had abandoned his orange top hat, as well as traded out the over-frilled shirt for a plain, collared shirt that was a slightly lighter shade of orange than the rest of the suit. Unlike Mike, however, he kept his shirt buttoned all the way up; and instead of a necktie, an orange bow tie that matched the suit jacket's color was now fastened around his neck.

As soon as the two friends exited the large clothing store, they bid their adieus to each other before departing for their separate homes. Though Mike found his walk to be somewhat uncomfortable, as the shoes he'd just bought weren't particularly made for lengthy strolls down concrete sidewalks. Then again, he'd forced himself to bear trudging through nearly the entire city back to Bulbous's apartment while soaked from head to toe only a few days prior, so he really couldn't bring himself to complain.

Thankfully, the walk didn't last long for him anyway, as it was about fifteen minutes later that he found himself stepping through the elevator doors onto Bulbous's floor. But when he made to open the apartment door, he was in for a small surprise: the door was locked.

Mike raised a curious eyebrow; Bulbous normally never locked the apartment door unless everyone else was out somewhere. And with the Prom so close to starting, he doubted that Bulbous and Violet would've left for some last-minute adventure.

He now tried knocking on the door as he called, "Hello?"

"Just a second!" came Bulbous's voice from the other side of the door, which sounded almost frantic; as though he were hurriedly trying to finish something.

Mike exhaled as he shook his head, a small smile coming to his face as he realized what this was about: Bulbous was probably helping Violet get dressed and ready for the night, and he didn't want Mike to see her until she was absolutely perfect.

It was only about a minute or so later before Mike heard the doorknob click from the other side, followed by Bulbous's voice saying, "Alright, come on in!"

Mike once again tried opening the door, finding no difficulty this time as he stepped inside, where he found Bulbous sitting on the living room couch. But as soon as Mike came into his view, Bulbous immediately stood to meet him at full height as he said with amazement, "Wow, look at you! I'm diggin' the rugged-gentleman look you got goin' on!"

Mike grinned sheepishly as he replied, "Heh, thanks..."

It was in this moment that Mike noticed: he and Bulbous were the only ones in the living room, which brought a puzzled expression to his face as he asked, "So, uh... where's Violet?"

Before Bulbous could answer, the sound of a door creaking open and footsteps were heard as Violet emerged from her bedroom.

The moment she came into his view, Mike felt his heart beginning to pound uncontrollably as he beheld every detail of her in his stunned silence: she was clad in a silk, orchid-colored dress that hugged her around the waist, held up with only a single strap that went over her right shoulder. Gems arranged in flowery patterns aligned the topmost part of the dress leading up to the strap. The lower half of the dress was slit in two places near the bottom so that her legs weren't entirely confined beneath the dress, and her feet had adorned high heels of the same orchid color. Her hair had been straightened out around the top, but went on to be curly near the bottom, where it was able to sit perfectly on her shoulders. Her right wrist was decorated with silver bracelets, while her left wrist bore a lilac corsage that matched her dress.

As Violet stopped to stand before Mike, he managed to pull himself somewhat together as he stammered out, "W-whoa..."

Violet's cheeks flushed as she let out a light giggle of appreciation. "You like it?" she asked him.

"Like..." he absentmindedly repeated, before shaking his head slightly to snap himself out of the mesmerization her beauty had put him in, "I mean; yeah... you look amazing."

A delighted smile lit up on Violet's face as she now took a moment to take in Mike's new threads. "You don't look half-bad yourself..." she complimented as she looked him up and down, "Mister 'Rugged-Looking Gentleman'."

Mike rubbed the back of his head as his own face turned beet-colored at Violet's words. Bulbous, meanwhile, now clasped his hands together as he said, "Okay, I think it's time kids hit the road! I wonder if the limo I called up is here yet..."

Once again, Mike and Violet's heads both turned to look at Bulbous in surprise. "I'm sorry, did you just say _limo_...?" Mike questioned, his eyebrows raised so high they could've floated off of his head, "As in, you actually rented out a _limo_...?"

"And _how_ were you able to afford something like that?" Violet added in, her eyes wide with disbelief as well.

"Well, truth is I can't," Bulbous admitted, "I had to put it on my credit card, which I'll pay off once the deli's back in business.

"And besides..." he said as he now put a comforting hand on his flustered daughter's shoulder, "It doesn't matter what the cost was; I'll still do anything to make my Angel's night as amazing as I can."

"Awe, Dad..." Violet said as she embraced her father appreciatively, "You're the best!"

Bulbous chuckled as he returned his daughter's hug with one of his own bear-sized ones, which lasted a few moments before he pulled away as he said, "Alright, now get a move on already! The limo's probably waiting for ya outside!"

"Right..." Violet acknowledged before turning to Mike, drawing a quick breath before asking him, "You ready?"

"Yeah... actually, wait," Mike said suddenly with realization, "Almost forgot—one sec."

He then darted down the hallway towards his room as Violet watched on, before glancing to her father with confusion.

"Maybe he's nervous?" Bulbous suggested as he looked to the door Mike had just disappeared through.

Violet shot her father a look. "Really, Dad?" she asked, "Mike, nervous?"

Bulbous shrugged innocently just as Mike reemerged from his room. "Sorry about that," he apologized as he moved to stand next to Violet again, "Nearly forgot my ticket.

"Now then..." he said, a smile forming on his face as he lifted an arm to offer Violet escort, "Shall we?"

Violet's confused expression turned into one of delight as she giggled at Mike's gesture, happily wrapping her arm around his extended one before they made their way towards the apartment door.

Bulbous watched with a hearty smile as the two teens stepped through the door, closing it behind them as a single tear of happiness dropped from his eyes.

 _'Good luck to ya, Angel...'_ he silently wished to his daughter.

* * *

Sure enough, a slick, black limousine was parked and waiting for Mike and Violet as soon as they stepped outside. The limo's chauffeur stood by the car's door, greeting the two as they approached before opening the door to allow them inside.

They were instantly astonished by the opulent interior within: blue and red lights scattered across the ceiling illuminated the entirety of the space, and every last inch of the long seats was clad in black leather. A flat-screen TV hung on the wall behind where the chauffeur was driving, next to which sat a tub filled with ice and bottles of sparkling cider.

"Whoa..." Violet breathed out with awe as she took in the extravagant space around her, "So this is what's like inside of a limo, huh...?"

"Inside of _this_ one, anyway..." Mike figured as he gazed out the window, watching as they flew through the cityscape.

The two didn't have long to enjoy the luxuries that their ride for the night had to offer, however, as it was only minutes later when they arrived at their destination: the faded, gold-colored building was County Dame's most prestigious hotel, standing at twenty stories high. A glass, half-dome sheltered the hotel's large front doors, before which a great number of other cars and limousines were either pulling up or driving away. Atop the tall structure was a large sign that spelled out the hotel's name in neon-red lights: _La Comté Dame Beaulieu_.

"Damn..." Mike uttered with bewilderment as he and Violet stepped out from their limo, "Dexterity High doesn't mess around..."

"No kidding..." Violet agreed with the same entranced tone as she looked up at the grandiose building, "I can see why Prom's always been the most hyped event of the year by Juniors and Seniors..."

Just then, their attentions were stolen away once again by the sudden sound of a _**HONK HONK!**_ coming from behind them, but they were in for a surprise when they turned to see where it'd come from: there was Danny, pulling up to the hotel's sidewalk in a bright-blue Lexus sports car, with Marina in the passenger's seat next to him. The ear-to-ear grin on her face had to have been as wide as Danny's was upon seeing the faces of their friends when they'd come into view.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me..." Violet said with astoundment as Danny exited the sleek ride, chuckling to himself giddily as he did so.

"Nope! No joke this time!" was Danny's response as he circled around to open the door for Marina, "My Pop let me borrow his sweetest set of wheels for the night!"

"You mean MY dad let you borrow HIS car," Marina corrected him as she now stepped out from the car, "After you spent five minutes BEGGING him to let you take it out."

Marina's choice of attire was a sparkly red dress, which was held up by straps that intersected each other as they went over her shoulders. A thick, black belt wrapped around her waist, while the lower half was cut short so you could see the long, black stockings that clung to her legs. Her feet had adorned tall, black heels, which pushed her just one inch taller to make her height equivalent to Violet's. Her chocolate-colored hair was put up in a small bun, and her face was actually without the usual black-rimmed glasses she always wore.

Now, Danny's eye was beginning to twitch irksomely at how Marina had just denounced his tale, before turning to her with the most shot-down expression he face could make as he growled through gritted teeth, "I thought you said you were gonna cover for _my_ story...!"

"I did," Marina confirmed as her lips curled into a playful smirk, "But this was more fun."

Danny could only bow his head shamefully as Mike and Violet watched on, the former performing a facepalm at the comedic exchange between the two before finally suggesting, "Maybe we ought to head inside now..."

"I like that idea..." Danny concurred as he regained his composure, joining everybody else as they made their way towards the hotel doors.

* * *

As soon as the four friends stepped inside, they found themselves immediately breathtaken by the sight before their eyes: the golden banquet room they were led to by the concierges looked like it was capable of fitting at least three mid-sized houses inside of it. Centered against one wall was a large stage, where a DJ booth was stationed and fitted with turntables, speakers, and all the other workings needed to power it. The gold-marble center of the room acted as the dance floor, where a sumptuous number of students in fancy garments were already whirling and twirling away. Surrounding that area were a great many circular tables clad in silky-white tablecloths, each of which were surrounded by chairs that occupied other students who weren't already up and dancing. There were a few scattered rectangular tables among the circular ones, upon which were bowls of punch and various assorted sweets. The wall opposite of the DJ booth's stage was aligned with numerous glass doors, which led to the hotel's spacious outside courtyard.

The friends made their way to one of the few unoccupied tables near the courtyard doors, which gave them a great view of the glorious outdoor space beyond. They spread themselves out around the table, each of them taking a side so that they were all sitting across from each other, yet still sitting next to their respective dates and best friends.

"Ooohhh man, this place is freakin' awesome!" Danny hollered over the loud music, practically bouncing in his seat like a giddy child as he looked around to take in the sights, "Hey, does anyone know when they're gonna serve dinner?"

"Really? You're _already_ hungry?" Marina asked as she shot him an incredulous look.

"I'm _always_ hungry!" Danny shot back, "You haven't caught onto that by now?"

Marina just shook her head, the same, _'I can't believe I've been crushing on this idiot,'_ expression forming on her face as she did so.

Mike, meanwhile, had tuned out of the conversation at Marina's retort to look towards Violet, who was averting everyone else's eyes by keeping her gaze fixed on the table before them. He could see her shifting uncomfortably in her chair, and he couldn't help but feel bad: throughout the entirety of the time the four of them had been friends, Violet had always been the quiet, shy one of the group who didn't know how to be as outgoing and positive as the others did. And what was more, now he knew that she must've been tormented by the fact that she was always hanging out with the one guy she'd ever harbored deep feelings for; and she'd never known whether or not he felt the same way because she was too afraid of being rejected if she let her feelings be known.

Wanting to break the tension that he could feel building inside of her, Mike gave her a slight tap on the shoulder, which caused her to jump slightly before realizing who it was that'd touched her. "Hey, how 'bout I go get us some punch?" Mike offered.

"Oh..." Violet sounded somewhat distant, as though she'd been pulled out of a deep thought; but she managed to put on a small smile before replying, "Yeah, that'd be great. Thanks."

Mike nodded as he stood up from the table, pushing his seat back in before walking away as he overheard Danny and Marina begin to argue about why her date hadn't offered to get punch yet too.

As he made his way to one of the nearby rectangular tables, he had the chance to take in a few more details about the environment than when he'd initially entered the room: for one thing, the electronic dance music that was blasting from the DJ booth was nothing he recognized. The most he could make out of its lyrics was something about an anaconda, and he was pretty sure that, whatever this music was, he didn't like it.

For another, he'd also taken notice of one table in the far corner of the room that was completely occupied by Dexterity High teachers, who must have been the ones who'd agreed to chaperone the dance. He spotted Dr. Crawford amongst them, who was decked out in a more formal version of his usual, blue sport coat attire. But what stood out to Mike was the small bandage that occupied one of the principal's cheeks, which Mike realized was where his Pleiades had tagged him almost a week earlier during their duel over Aeron's freedom.

His staring eventually resulted in him and Dr. Crawford's eyes locking for a brief moment, which caught Mike off-guard. But to his relief, Dr. Crawford's eyes weren't hard or even remotely resentful towards him; in fact, he saw what looked like a newfound respect in the Principal's hazel-colored eyes behind the plastic-rimmed spectacles. This was further demonstrated when he gave Mike a courteous nod, which Mike returned with an equal amount of regard before Crawford turned his attention back to his coworkers.

Mike now continued his way towards one of the rectangular tables. As he took his time pouring ladlefuls of fruit punch into a couple of the provided paper cups, he took a moment to consider how the rest of the night might've decided to unfold: thanks to Danny's earlier encouragement, he at least wasn't afraid to confess his feelings to Violet anymore; but now he was left to figure out what the best approach to doing so was.

Perhaps he could pull her aside somewhere so they could talk in private; or maybe it would just come out of him in the heat of a moment as they danced to a slow song; or maybe she would be the one to approach him with her own feelings first. He almost hoped the latter would be the case, as it would save him the trouble of having to pick a moment himself.

But to him, that just seemed too unfair to Violet. Not only had she waited just as long as he had to learn about their true feelings towards each other, but she'd also had to live with him disappearing from her life without explanation for two years. And for all that, he felt that the least he could do to make it up to her was to go to her with his feelings first.

He'd gotten so wrapped up in these thoughts that he almost didn't notice the odd phenomenon occurring behind him: a sudden hush was washing over the population of students in the large, echoing room, traveling from its front all the way to the back where Mike was standing. Even the student DJ atop the stage had lowered his music's volume to almost nothing.

Mike turned to search for the cause of the sudden silence, but what awaited his eyes came as the ultimate shock: the students out on the dance floor were all stepping backwards, clearing a path as an individual wearing an ice blue-colored tuxedo walked onto the dance floor—the one individual that struck both fear and loathing inside the hearts of each and every student in the room:

"What? Why's everyone so quiet all of a sudden?" Josiah Sullivan's question echoed around the hall as he spread his arms out openly, "I thought Dexterity High's Prom was supposed to be the biggest bash of the school year!"

From their table, Danny was now resisting the urge to stand up and shout at the sandy blonde-haired bully as he felt his insides beginning to boil. "Oh, that son of a..." he muttered acidly under his breath as his fists shakily clenched, "He actually had the nerve to show his face _here_ after all this time...?!"

"After being absent from so long, too..." Marina added in as she tried to control her own shakiness, "Why's he only showing up now...?"

Violet, too, was quivering in her seat, though not out of anger or fear for herself like most of the others. There was only one reason she could think of for Josiah to only now show his face, and at the Prom no less...

Meanwhile, Dr. Crawford was now stepping up from his seat at the teachers' table to walk out onto the dance floor, standing to face Josiah as the surrounding students stepped even further backwards now.

"It is... _good_ to see you again after all this time, Mr. Sullivan," Dexterity High's principal greeted Josiah hesitantly, "But I'm afraid I have to ask you to leave, given how long you've been absent from school."

"Oh, come on now, Doc..." Josiah retorted casually as he pulled a small slip of golden paper from his suit jacket pocket, "I bought my Prom ticket a month in advance just like everybody else. At least let me have my money's worth.

"Besides..." Josiah went on as he tucked the ticket away again, "I'm not here to put a damper on everyone's party like you're probably expecting."

A wave of confused and surprised whispers began to circulate amongst the gathered students on the dance floor, all wondering what Josiah meant. Dr. Crawford stood his ground, though he remained silent in anticipation of Josiah's explanation.

"There's only one reason I'm here..." Josiah now spoke as he turned on his heel to look around, "I'm looking for Mike Harper!"

Violet felt her stomach twist as her fears were realized. Marina's concern-filled eyes were now locked on Danny, whose fists were still balled and shaking from the pent-up rage he was struggling to restrain.

Josiah, meanwhile, continued turning to look around the room, searching for the rival he'd named. "Well?" he asked aloud, "Is Mike here with you all tonight?"

"Right here, Josiah."

Everyone in the room's heads turned to the source of the voice: Mike was now stepping his way onto the dance floor, his eyes like daggers as he locked eyes with the bully that he and Danny had fended off for years—both with their fists and on the duel field.

"Aha, there you are!" Josiah spoke casually, his expression turning to one of seriousness as he pocketed his hands, "You're looking good, Mike. Adjusted back to city life alright?"

"Cut the crap, Josiah," Mike shot back as he stopped to stand next to Dr. Crawford, "I doubt you came here just to make small talk with me. So what is it you want?"

Josiah paused to take a quick breath in, as though he was readying himself to say something impossibly difficult.

"What I want..." he finally stated, "Is to say that I'm sorry."

A surge of bewildered and unbelieving whispers broke out amongst the gathered students and staff of Dexterity high in the room. At their table, the expressions of Danny, Marina, and Violet couldn't have been more flabbergasted to hear any form of apology escape Josiah Sullivan's lips. Not once had he ever been known to feel even remotely remorseful for any of the abuse he'd dealt out to them, much less to any of the other students he'd victimized over the last seven years.

"It's true," Josiah persisted to Mike in response to everyone else's uncertain mutterings, "And I'm not just here to say sorry to you, or you friends. I'm here to apologize to everybody in this room, and everyone else I've wronged over the last few years."

"So what, you think waltzing in here just to say you're ' _sorry_ ' will make up for everything you've put us all through?!" Danny finally blurted out angrily as he shot up from his seat.

A pained look came to Josiah's face as he locked eyes with the orange-tuxed teen. "Of course not..." he responded somberly, "There's nothing I could ever say that would instantly make up for the awful things I've done."

Josiah turned away from the now-surprised Danny to look back to Mike, who was still eyeing him cautiously. "You may not believe me when I say this, but I've changed..." he explained solemnly, "All I'm asking for is the chance to prove it to all of you; right here, right now."

"And just how do you intend to do that?" Mike inquired as his eyes narrowed skeptically.

In response, Josiah rapidly raised up his left arm, allowing the sleeve to fall back and reveal his blue and white-colored duel disk beneath it. "The only way I know I _can_ prove it to you..." Josiah spoke as he lowered his arm, "Through a duel!"

Mike stared long and hard at Josiah as he took in this answer. The rest of the gathered Juniors and Seniors, including Danny, Marina, and Violet, were all anxiously awaiting Mike's response to this proposal.

Finally, Mike broke the tense silence as he said, "A duel, huh...?"

And then, just as rapidly as Josiah had, Mike's left arm now shot into the air as well, his own sleeve falling to reveal his own black and silver duel disk hidden beneath his sleeve, which brought a number of gasps from the other surrounding students.

"I suppose I'll take you on, then," Mike finally answered, "To see if you really _have_ changed."

Back at their table, Danny's eyes were nearly popping out of his head as he realized, "Wait, he's been keeping his duel disk hidden there this whole time?! Freaking how?!"

Violet's eyes widened as she silently realized the answer to Danny's question: _'When he ran into his room earlier...'_ she figured as the memory from earlier that night replayed in her head, _'He wasn't just getting his ticket...'_

She felt her heart sink as the fact sank into her: _'I guess there really is no convincing him to actually take a paranoia-free night off...'_

As for Josiah, his lips now curled into a small smirk at Mike's acceptance of his challenge. "Glad to see your resolve is as strong as ever," he said, "How about we take this outside, then?"

* * *

Everybody else followed suit as Mike and Josiah stepped out into the hotel's courtyard. The two duelists positioned themselves on opposite sides of the long fountain in the center, where they stood shuffling their decks as the rest of the students and faculty formed a crowd that circled around them. There were still whispers spreading among the body of people, all of them wondering what they were about to witness through this duel.

Danny, Marina, and Violet managed to stay at the front of the crowd, taking spots directly behind Mike as they watched the two ready themselves for this duel.

"Does anybody else feel like this might be a huge waste of time?" Marina asked contemptuously, which gained the attention of her two friends standing on either side of her.

"What do you mean?" Violet asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I mean, does anybody really believe that Josiah can actually prove he's changed through this duel?" Marina clarified, "What about this duel could actually convince us all that Josiah's telling the truth? For all we know, this could just be a front to hide that he just wants a rematch against Mike so that he can beat him in front of most of the student body."

"That could be the case," Danny acknowledged, "But what if it's not...?"

Violet's and Marina's eyes turned to Danny with surprise, while the latter's gaze remained fixated on his best friend. "Before my duel with Aeron, he'd said that a true duelist can see into the heart and soul of another through their dueling," he explained to the two girls, "And I'm willing to bet that Mike learned how to do that from Aeron over the last two years.

"So if Josiah _is_ telling the truth..." Danny now spoke with certainty in his voice, "Then Mike's the only one here who can find out for sure."

Both of the girls' expressions turned to surprise at these words, though Marina's definitely showed the most surprise before she and Violet turned to see that the two rivals were about to begin:

"You ready for this, Mike?" Josiah called out as he replaced his deck in his duel disk, which activated upon the insertion.

"I'm never _not_ ready, Josiah..." was Mike's answer as he too replaced his deck, causing his duel disk to activate too, "So come at me with everything you've got!"

And without any further hesitation, the two dealt their first five cards from their duel disks before finally crying out, "LET'S DUEL!"

 **[Mike - LP: 8000]**

 **[Josiah - LP: 8000]**

As soon as the word was said, the surrounding crowd of students and staff alike instantly fell silent as Josiah offered, "Since I challenged you, I'll give you the first move."

"How courteous," Mike replied as he drew his first card.

"I'll start by summoning Constellar Pollux in ATK mode!" Mike decided.

 **[Constellar Pollux - LV: 4/ATK: 1700]**

"And in case you weren't aware, Pollux has a special ability that allows me to normal summon one more Constellar monster this turn!" Mike explained as he pulled another card from his hand, "So by releasing him, I can advance summon Constellar Zubeneschamali!"

 **[Constellar Zubeneschamali - LV: 5/ATK: 2100]**

"And now for his effect!" Mike went on, "When Zubeneschamali is summoned to the field, I can take any Constellar monster from my deck, and add it to my hand! So I'll add my Constellar Kaus!"

The card popped out from his deck zone as he explained the effect, and he proceeded to add the card to his hand before concluding: "Then I'll set one card face down, and end my turn."

"My turn, then!" Josiah said as he drew.

He glanced quickly to the card that he'd drawn, before locking eyes with Mike once more as he started: "I summon my Strategist of the Ice Barrier!"

 **[Strategist of the Ice Barrier - LV: 4/ATK: 1600]**

More confused and surprised whispers now fluttered through the crowd of students and staff at the sight of this new being.

"Strategist of the Ice Barrier..." Marina repeated aloud, "So Josiah's using some kind of new deck?"

"Yeah, Ice Barriers," Danny confirmed, "Though I gotta say, I can't remember the last time I ever heard of someone using that kind of deck..."

"Next, I'll use my Strategist's special ability!" Josiah continued, "By discarding one other Ice Barrier monster from my hand, I get to draw another card!"

Mike watched as Josiah carried out this effect, before he went on: "Then, I'll activate my Medallion of the Ice Barrier spell card! With this, I add one more Ice Barrier monster from my deck to my hand; and I choose my Prior!"

Once again, Josiah added another card to his hand before he said, "Now, since I control at least one other Ice Barrier monster on my field, I can now special summon Prior directly to the field!"

 **[Prior of the Ice Barrier - LV: 2/DEF: 400]**

"And to end my turn, I'll set two cards face down," Josiah finished, "Your move, Mike."

Mike was silent for a moment as he inspected Josiah's side of the field. "So then..." Mike said, "You're the one using a new deck this time around... so is this what you meant by saying you'd changed, Josiah?"

"Not quite," Josiah corrected him, "But it's part of it. You'll see for yourself soon enough."

"I'll hold you to that," Mike said as he drew his next card.

He smirked for a moment as soon as he saw what he'd drawn. "I'll play a little spell card that you ought to know pretty well: Constellar Star Chart!"

"Aw, yeah!" Danny cried out as smiles broke out on his, Violet's, and Marina's faces, "We all know what that means!"

Josiah watched intently as Mike continued: "Next I'll summon Constellar Kaus!"

 **[Constellar Kaus - LV: 4/ATK: 1800]**

"And thanks to his effect, I can either increase or decrease the LV of any Constellar monster I want by one! So I'll bring Zubeneschamali down from 5 to 4!"

 **[Constellar Zubeneschamali - LV: 4]**

"Now that they're the same LV, I think I'll overlay them!" Mike cried out as his two monster offered themselves up to a spatial portal, "And in doing so, I Xyz summon Constellar Praesepe!"

 **[Constellar Praesepe - RK: 4/ATK: 2400]**

"And by Xyz summoning him, my Constellar Star Chart lets me draw one more card from my deck!" Mike said as he carried out the effect.

"Now, Constellar Praesepe! Attack Strategist of the Ice Barrier!" Mike declared as he pointed to Josiah's monster.

"I'm afraid he can't, Mike."

Everyone's heads turned to Josiah, who was smiling as his comment erected looks of confusion from everyone else. "Didn't you notice?" he inquired as he pointed at Mike's golden warrior, "Your monster's been switched into DEF mode!"

Mike's eyebrows rose with shock as he looked to his monster, who was now kneeling into a defensive position as he grunted unwillingly.

 **[Constellar Praesepe - DEF: 800]**

"What...?" Mike uttered with confusion, "But how...?!"

"It's pretty simple, actually," Josiah explained as he pointed to his now-flipped card, "Before you Xyz summoned your Praesepe, I activated the continuous trap card: Eisbahn! As long as I control a WATER attribute monster on my side of the field, any other non-WATER monsters that are summoned are automatically switched to DEF mode!"

Astonished mutterings once again spread through the body of students and staff at this explanation. Danny, Marina, and Violet, on the other hand, all had taken-aback expressions as they took in Josiah's words.

"That's not a move like Josiah's ever played before," Violet said with surprise.

"I'll say..." Danny agreed, "Guess Josiah's _really_ upped his game since we last saw him."

Mike's expression, meanwhile, now returned to its usual calmness as he processed what had just happened. "Impressive, Josiah," Mike complimented him, "Nothing like the usual headstrong and sloppy maneuvers I'm used to seeing from you.

"Well, like I said," Josiah reminded him, "I've become a different person since we last dueled."

A small smile now came to Mike's face, as though he were starting to believe that Josiah's words about having changed were true.

"I'll finish with one more card face down," Mike concluded, "Turn end."

"Then I draw!" Josiah said as he drew his next card, "And I'll begin by using Strategist's effect once more: by discarding my Spellbreaker of the Ice Barrier, I get to draw another card!"

Josiah carried out this effect before continuing: "Now I'll activate the effect of my Prior! By releasing himself, he can revive one Ice Barrier monster from my graveyard to my field!

"And the monster I'm resurrecting..." Josiah explained as his Prior faded away, "Is the monster I discarded when I first used Strategist's effect: come forth, General Gantala of the Ice Barrier!"

 **[General Gantala of the Ice Barrier - LV: 7/ATK: 2700]**

The muscled military man burst out from beneath the water of the fountain before Josiah, earning a great number of gasps from the surrounding crowd as the powerful creature took to the latter's field.

"Okay, Josiah's officially breaking all of the rules of how he used to play!" Danny said as he watched on, barely able to believe what he was seeing.

"That's an understatement," Marina agreed, "Just where did he learn to duel like this?"

"And more than that..." Violet said with concern, "Can Mike still beat him with how strong he is now...?"

Josiah now went on: "Next, I'll summon one more monster to the field: Defender of the Ice Barrier!"

 **[Defender of the Ice Barrier - LV: 3/ATK: 200]**

"Cute little wolf," Mike commented, "But his ATK strength doesn't pack much of a punch."

"He doesn't need to," Josiah shot back, "That's what my Gantala's for!

"But before he attacks, I'll have my Strategist of the Ice Barrier go first!" Josiah declared, "Attack Mike's Praesepe!"

Strategist leaped up from his spot on Josiah's side of the field, unfolding his blue hand-fan as he prepared to strike at Mike's monster.

But as soon as he swept down to attack, Mike countered: "I reveal my trap card: Mirror Force! All of your ATK mode monsters are now destroyed!"

Strategist was propelled back by an invisible force before he could make contact with Praesepe, before he, as well as Gantala and Defender, shattered at the effect of Mike's trap.

Hollers and cheers now erupted from the surrounding crowd at Mike's move, but he ignored the noise and kept his eyes on Josiah's expression: despite having watched all of his monsters get destroyed in one shot, he didn't seem fazed in the slightest.

 _'Something's not right...'_ Mike silently realized, _'Could it be that he...?'_

"I predicted as much from you, Mike."

Mike's eyes widened as he heard Josiah finish his thought for him, which brought a wave of silence over the crowd as he explained, "You've used that Mirror Force card against me plenty of times; and I even used it against you during our last duel! You really thought I wasn't ready for such a move?"

Mike's gritted his teeth as Josiah now flipped his set card: "I activate the trap card, Torrential Rebirth! This card activates when one or more of my monsters are destroyed; then, as long as there was at least one WATER-attribute monster amongst them, I can then special summon every single one of them back to my field all at once!"

Mike watched with shock as the three of Josiah's monsters burst out from beneath the water of the fountain before them, each of them with expressions that made it clear they were ready to take their vengeance against Mike for how he'd destroyed them all.

 **[Strategist of the Ice Barrier - LV: 4/ATK: 1600]**

 **[General Gantala of the Ice Barrier - LV: 7/ATK: 2700]**

 **[Defender of the Ice Barrier - LV: 3/DEF: 1600]**

"And to add insult to injury, Torrential Reborn has one other effect!" Josiah added in, "For every monster that comes back, you take 500 points of damage!"

"Wait, but then that's 1500 points!" Danny realized with panic as he and everyone else all watched as the monsters on Josiah's field now plunged themselves into the water fountain below their feet, sending a wave of water over to Mike's side that submerged him momentarily as he took the trap card's damage.

 **[Mike - LP: 6500]**

"Unbelievable..." Marina muttered with awe as Mike reemerged from the holographic waves that had engulfed him, "Josiah's gotten even stronger than we thought..."

"No kidding," Danny agreed, "His deck's become so resourceful that he barely touched _any_ of the cards in his hand this turn."

"Mike..." was all Violet could utter tremblingly as she watched on, her hand coming up to rest where she could feel her heart beating at a million miles an hour in her chest.

Mike, meanwhile, now brought himself back to full height as he regained his composure. "Not bad, Josiah..." he commended his opponent, "You've definitely become a much stronger duelist; I'll give you that much.

"But now, the kid gloves are coming off..." Mike told him as a small smirk came to his face, "You said you wanted to show us that you'd changed as a _person_ through this duel, right? Then it's high time that you proved it!"

* * *

 _ **To Be Continued...**_

* * *

 **Next Time**

 **Chapter 11: "Redemption - Part 2"**

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

 _So since I've got no recommendations to make for stories this time 'round, I've got something a little different in mind: between this chapter and the next one (given these are Parts 1 & 2), I'm gonna open up this story's first..._

 ** _QnA PANEL!_**

 _So in your reviews, should you choose to post one, I ask that you post any number of questions you have for me about the story, or anything about me in general. Concerning the story, it can be just about anything you can think of relating to it: something about the characters, the story, the lore, the history of the story's creation, etc. ^^ For other, more generalized questions, I just ask that you keep them just that: general. I'm not giving out any real-world information about myself._ o.O

 _Also, before I forget: I need to give the biggest shoutout ever to Komori Rias/silvernet for being my substitute beta reader for this chapter, and having spent these last months with me throughout the process. Your helpfulness and patience in dealing with my bullsh*t has been inspiring, and I honestly don't think I'd have gotten through writing this thing without you. If you guys haven't, I suggest you go and give her stories a gander too—she has great material that's seriously under-appreciated on here. I'd give my usual shout-outs to them right now... if I actually had time to read them through to their current points... (I know, I'm sorry. I'm gonna get to reading them soon, I promise. ;-;)_

 ** _*UPDATE*_** _The_ _ **QnA PANEL!**_ _is now closed and no longer accepting questions, as of November 2nd, 2016._

* * *

 ** _\- Last Revised: May 2, 2017 -_**


	11. Redemption - Part 2 & QnA PANEL!

**Yu-Gi-Oh! Mark of Death**

 **Chapter 11: "Redemption - Part 2"**

 **Opening Theme: "Raining" by Art Of Dying**

 **Ending Theme: "Behind Blue Eyes" by Limp Bizkit**

* * *

A smirk came to Josiah's face as well. "Like I said, you'll see it for yourself soon enough..." he promised him, "But right now, it's still my move!

"So let's try this again!" he declared, "Strategist, attack his Praesepe!"

Once more, Strategist of the Ice Barrier leapt into the air, unfurling his hand fan before charging in at Constellar Praesepe again.

But despite his first failed attempt at stopping this assault, Mike wasn't ready to give up on his monster just yet: "I reveal my Impenetrable Attack trap!" he countered as his set card flipped, "With this, Praesepe becomes impervious to destruction by both battle and effects for the remainder of the turn!"

The Strategist once again swiped his fan across Mike's warrior, only to find himself hitting another invisible barrier that bounced him back. Josiah watched with an amused expression as his monster returned to his side of the field.

"Not bad, Mike..." he complimented his opponent across the fountain, "Guess I'll move on to my end phase, then; so that I can activate my General Gantala's effect!

"Once per turn, during each of my end phases," Josiah explained, "Gantala has the ability to bring back any one Ice Barrier monster in my graveyard! So I'll have my Prior return to the field!"

 **[Prior of the Ice Barrier - LV: 2/ATK: 1000]**

"Wait, why bring that monster back in ATK mode...?" Danny questioned from the sidelines, "Next turn, Mike'll be able to switch Praesepe back into ATK mode, and Prior will be a prime attack target!"

"Very observant, Danny!" Josiah pointed out, gaining his, Marina's, and Violet's attentions before explaining: "But you see, even _if_ Mike does that next turn, my Defender of the Ice Barrier's effect will keep my Prior safe: so long as he and one other Ice Barrier monster are out on my field, no monster with ATK strength greater than my Defender's DEF can declare an attack!"

"So the only way Mike will be able to attack is by getting rid of that Defender...?" Marina figured aloud.

"Right," Danny confirmed, "But hey, how hard can that be for Mike, really?"

 _'Not that hard at all...'_ Mike answered his best friend silently, _'It's almost too reckless; Josiah ought to know that such a basic defense is easy for me to climb over. So why leave himself wide open like this...?'_

Mike's eyes flickered to Josiah's face: his expression was calm, and his lips were still curled in a small, almost inviting, smile.

 _'Could it be... that he WANTS me to attack...?'_ Mike wondered as his brow furrowed, _'But he has no other set cards, or any other visible defense... is this some kind of trap...?'_

"What're you waiting for, Mike?"

Josiah's voice snapped Mike back to reality for the moment as he looked to his sandy-blonde opponent. "I've ended my turn, you know," he reminded him, "It's your move!"

Mike looked deeply into Josiah's eyes. _'I don't sense any malice or deceit in him,'_ Mike analyzed as his own ocean-blue orbs narrowed, _'But then, why...?'_

His eyes then widened suddenly. _'Wait...'_ he realized, _'Is it possible that he left this opening to prove himself to me... to prove that he really has changed...?'_

He now put two fingers on the top of his deck. _'If that IS the case, then there's only one real way to find out,'_ he figured, _'A duelist reveals their true colors the closer they come to defeat. So to bring out Josiah's, I need to draw THAT card...!'_

"It's my turn!" Mike finally cried out as he drew his next card, quickly glancing at it to see if _it_ had arrived.

And he smiled.

"Aw, yeah; there's that victory smile!" Danny exclaimed as he pumped his fist.

"As you predicted, I'll start by switching Constellar Praesepe back into ATK mode!" Mike began his move.

 **[Constellar Praesepe - ATK: 2400]**

"Then I'll activate the Mystical Space Typhoon quick-play spell!" Mike went on, "Which I'll use to destroy your Eisbahn trap!"

A small cyclone began to form on Mike's field, creating a small whirlpool in the fountain water beneath it as it went after Josiah's trap card, which was swept away by the vortex before disappearing into oblivion.

"And then, another spell card: Xyz Energy!" Mike said as the wind died down, "By detaching one overlay unit from Praesepe, I can destroy any monster on your field!

"So Praesepe, destroy that Defender of the Ice Barrier!" Mike declared as he pointed at Josiah's monster.

The golden warrior immediately went to work, gliding across the fountain towards Josiah's orange wolf, who let out a mournful howl as Praesepe's fist struck the small creature, causing it to explode upon contact.

"Now get ready, 'cause that was just me getting started!" Mike said as he lifted another card from his hand, "I summon Constellar Sombre!"

 **[Constellar Sombre - LV: 4/ATK: 1550]**

"And with his effect, by banishing Constellar Pollux from my graveyard," he explained as he moved the named monster from his graveyard to his banished zone, "I can return any other Constellar monster from the graveyard to my hand! So I'll add back my Kaus!"

Mike added the second card from his graveyard to his hand, before continuing: "Then, I'll re-summon Kaus back to the field with Sombre's now-unlocked second effect!"

 **[Constellar Kaus - LV: 4/ATK: 1800]**

"And thanks to Kaus, I can increase or decrease the LV of any Constellar monster on the field by 1, up to twice per turn! So Kaus's and Sombre's LVs both become 5!"

 **[Constellar Kaus - LV: 5]**

 **[Constellar Sombre - LV: 5]**

"With that, I'll now overlay both of my monsters!" he cried out as the two monsters were absorbed in another spatial portal, "And with them, I Xyz summon Constellar Pleiades!"

 **[Constellar Pleiades - RK: 5/ATK: 2500]**

"And just like before, my Constellar Star Chart triggers," Mike reminded them all, "Meaning I get another draw!"

Mike drew his card before continuing: "Next, I'll use Constellar Pleiades's effect! By detaching one overlay unit, he can return your General Gantala back to your hand!"

The muscled general on Josiah's field gave a confused grunt before fading away, while Josiah brought the card from the duel disk to his hand as he kept his eyes intently fixed on Mike.

"And with that out of the way..." Mike said as he confidently pointed to Josiah's field, "Constellar Pleiades, attack his Prior of the Ice Barrier!"

Pleiades took up his spear and dashed over to Josiah's field, coming face-to-face with his Prior before thrusting his weapon straight through the Ice Barrier monster's chest, causing him to groan agonizingly before shattering into nothingness.

 **[Josiah - LP: 6500]**

Josiah raised an arm to shield himself from the shockwave of the assault, but his expression remained unchanged as Mike then commanded his golden warrior: "Now it's your turn, Praesepe! Attack Josiah's Strategist!"

Praesepe once again sped over to Josiah's side of the field, this time charging straight into Strategist of the Ice Barrier as he thrusted his golden fist straight into him, launching the blue-robed monster into the air for a moment before he too shattered.

 **[Josiah - LP: 5700]**

"And Mike's back on top!" Danny hollered ecstatically, "See that?! Josiah still ain't got nothing on him!"

"But something's not adding up..." Violet finally piped up, concern in her voice, "I don't think Mike put his all into those attacks..."

"Huh?" Danny and Marina said in unison as they turned to their quiet friend.

"Mike's Praesepe has that effect, remember?" Violet reminded them, "Usually, he detaches an overlay unit to boost Praesepe's ATK to 3400. But he didn't this time, despite still having one overlay unit left..."

As Danny's and Marina's eyes widened at this realization, the same thoughts were also swimming within Josiah's mind as he lifted a curious eyebrow.

 _'It's not in Mike's nature to hold back...'_ he thought to himself, _'Why didn't he use Praesepe's last overlay unit to hit me with 1000 more damage...?'_

"I'm assuming my last move left you confused."

Josiah snapped back to reality at the sound of Mike's voice, locking eyes with his opponent as the latter continued: "Before you ask, no; I didn't forget to use Praesepe's effect. As it so happens, I actually have a _better_ use for it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Josiah asked with a perplexed expression.

"I'll show you!" Mike said as he took another card from his hand, "I move into my main phase two, and activate the continuous spell card: Constellar Tempest!"

Josiah's eyes narrowed as he eyed this new card. "Constellar Tempest...?" he repeated.

"This card has a unique effect that can only be used once per duel," Mike explained, "See, during the end phase of my turn, by detaching all of the remaining overlay units of at least two Constellar Xyz monsters on my field, this card takes that power and uses it to cut your LP right in half!"

Excited chatter broke out amongst the gathered students and teachers around them as a bright light began to engulf Mike's two Xyz monsters, before the Constellar Tempest card that had appeared behind them began to absorb said light into itself. Josiah could feel his heart beginning to race as Mike's card collected the combined energies of his two Constellar creatures.

 _'So he's pushing my limits to test ME, now...'_ he figured as a smile came to his face, _'Well-played, Mike...'_

It was another moment later before the Constellar Tempest card finished gathering the last of the two monsters' energy, at which point Mike finally said, "Alright... I end my turn!"

What happened next was a display the likes that none of the gathered people there had ever seen before: first, a pillar of bright, radiant light shot up from Mike's Constellar Tempest card towards the stars above, which disappeared only a moment later. Then, with the only warning of a faint twinkle in the sky, a storm of small meteorites suddenly began to shower down from the stars above at rapid speeds; all of which were aimed directly at Josiah, who braced himself for the impact as a series of miniature explosions erupted from the collisions of the meteorites around him.

 **[Josiah - LP: 2850]**

Everyone had fallen silent as they watched Josiah take the direct force of the Constellar Tempest's wrath. At the front of the pack, Danny, Marina, and Violet were wide-eyed with shock from the attack they were watching Mike wage. Never before had any of them seen a card with such devastating power, so having watched Mike use one now was a little too much for them to stomach all in that moment.

Meanwhile, Mike was now cautiously eyeing the small firestorm that had engulfed his opponent across the fountain. _'Alright, Josiah...'_ Mike silently said, _'Time to see what your true colors REALLY are...'_

But when the flames finally died down, what met everyone's eyes left them all stunned: there was Josiah, still grinning as he'd been before the attack, and _laughing_ the most genuine laugh that anybody had ever heard him do before—a sound that no one knew whether to take as a good or bad sign.

"Something funny over there?" Mike called out to his old adversary as he cocked his head curiously.

"Heh... no, I'm sorry..." was Josiah's response as he managed to catch his breath, meeting Mike's gaze again as he regained his duel stance, "I just... haven't had this much fun dueling in a _long_ time."

Mike's eyebrows rose at this answer as Josiah looked away, a pensive expression coming to his face. "It's strange to think..." he mused, "I've spent all these years using dueling as a means to put people down, and crush their spirits... and in that time, I'd forgotten just how much fun it's really supposed to be.

"But now, I'm starting to remember that feeling again," Josiah said as he met Mike's eyes again, his grin growing just a little wider, "And I owe it to you for helping me remember that, Mike."

Mike's confused look was replaced with a comforted smile at this answer. On the sidelines, however, the bewilderment was only growing in the minds of Danny, Marina, and Violet as they heard Josiah's words.

"It's just like before..." Violet realized as her mind flashed back to almost four weeks ago, during the duel between Mike and Danny the day after he'd returned:

* * *

 _'Y'know, it's funny...'_ Mike had said, _'Funny how two years can make you forget the definition of 'fun'... but I think I'm starting to remember it now.'_

* * *

"Maybe Josiah really _has_ changed after all..." Violet figured aloud as her expression softened, earning quick glances of surprise from both Danny and Marina.

Meanwhile, Josiah now held up his duel disk again as he said, "Alright, my turn! I draw!"

He glanced at his newly-drawn card for only a moment, before letting out a small chuckle. "I'll start by activating my Salvage spell card!" he began, "With it, I add two WATER monsters from my graveyard to my hand, so long as they have 1500 or less ATK! So I'll bring back my Defender and my Spellbreaker!"

He took the two cards from his graveyard zone, adding them to his hand before continuing: "Then, I'll play my Magic Triangle of the Ice Barrier! By revealing three differently-named Ice Barrier monsters in my hand, I can destroy any card on my opponent's field!

"So I reveal the Gantala, Defender, and Spellbreaker that are in my hand," Josiah explained as he flipped the three remaining cards in his hand, "And call upon their combined powers to destroy your Pleiades!"

The three revealed monsters now appeared in ghostly forms on Josiah's field, creating a triangle-shaped formation in the air across from Mike's Pleiades. Then, without any warning, a bright blue, triangle-shaped beam burst from between each of the monsters, enveloping Pleiades in its radiance as the warrior gave out a painful cry before fading away in the light.

"And it doesn't stop there!" Josiah said as both the beam and the monsters faded away, "Once that's done, I'm then able to special summon any one Ice Barrier monster from my hand! So come on back, Defender of the Ice Barrier!"

 **[Defender of the Ice Barrier - LV: 3/DEF: 1600]**

"Then I'll have my Spellbreaker of the Ice Barrier come out to join him!" Josiah went on.

 **[Spellbreaker of the Ice Barrier - LV: 4/ATK: 1200]**

"But I'm afraid these two monsters won't be sticking around for long..." Josiah said with a small smirk, "Because, in case you didn't know, my Defender is also a _Tuner_ monster!"

"Oh, don't tell me..." Danny exclaimed as he grasped at his hair.

"You guessed it!" Josiah confirmed as his two monsters combined into a pillar of white light, "I now tune my LV 3 Defender to my LV 4 Spellbreaker!"

Everyone watched on in awe as a dragon comprised entirely of ice burst through the light pillar, while Josiah cried out: "I Synchro summon Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier!"

 **[Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier - LV: 7/ATK: 2500]**

Impressed cries erupted from the surrounding crowd of students and teachers at the sight of this new, beautiful creature that shined beneath the moonlight. Even the trio of friends on the sidelines were awe-struck; unable to pull their eyes away from this glimmering beast.

"Now I'll activate my dragon's effect!" Josiah said as he held up the remaining Gantala in his hand, "By discarding a card from my hand, Gungnir has the power to destroy your Praesepe!"

Gungnir let loose a breath of frost that completely iced over Mike's gold-fisted warrior, who groaned as he was frozen where he stood, before eventually shattering into pieces.

"And the stage is set!" Josiah declared as Mike's eyebrows knit together with frustration, "Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier; attack Mike directly!"

Gungnir's jaw now unhinged before firing away a barrage of icicles that shot right through Mike, who flinched as the cold shards dwindled his LP down.

 **[Mike - LP: 4000]**

"Unreal..." Danny said with wide eyes, "He took out _both_ of Mike's monsters, AND waged a direct attack... all in the same turn?!"

"Yeah, and now they're nearly 1000 LP apart," Marina added in with a quiver, "And Mike's only got one card left in his hand..."

Violet, however, remained unusually calm as her eyes remained on Mike. Despite Danny's and Marina's points, Mike's upright posture and unflustered expression actually convinced her that there was nothing to worry about—a feeling that made her wonder whether or not Mike was actually _trying_ to win this duel at all...

"Josiah."

All eyes locked onto Mike as soon as he'd said his opponent's name. Josiah himself looked to him with interest, the grin on his face fading away to match Mike's tone of seriousness.

"I have to admit, I had my doubts about you before this duel began..." Mike finally said, "But not only have you proven yourself to me throughout this duel, but even your _deck_ has started to respond to you. Only someone with the heart of a true duelist could command their cards as skillfully as you just did."

Josiah flashed a small smile of appreciation at this compliment from Mike, who continued: "I really do believe that you've changed now. But..."

Mike's eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms. "The one thing I _don't_ understand..." he said cautiously, "Is just _why_ you've had this sudden change of heart."

Josiah's expression turned grim at this inquiry from Mike, who could immediately tell that he'd hit some kind of soft spot. On the sidelines, Danny, Marina, and Violet each had the same feeling as well, but they remained attentive; not wanting to miss this answer from the bully who'd tormented them for the last seven years.

Finally, Josiah started with a shaky breath: "Well... perhaps I ought to start by telling you that this Ice Barrier deck... was my mother's."

A wave of quiet fell over everyone else as Josiah struggled to find his words: "She was my world... my dad, being the asshole that he was, walked out on us when I was six; so my mom was left to raise me all on her own. She was an undyingly kind woman, and an even more loving mother. I owed her the world for everything she did to take care of me.

"But then, three years later..." Josiah shut his eyes as he forced the words out, "She was murdered."

Gasps and murmurs broke the silence of the crowd as Mike's eyes shot open at these words. Danny, Marina, and Violet each felt their guts twist as they looked to Josiah with shock, unable to believe the words that had just come out of his mouth.

"The cops never found the bastard that did it..." Josiah explained as he hung his head, "I was forced to live with my grandmother, who didn't give any more of a damn about me than my father did. And for that, I ended up doing so bad in school that I was held back. Twice.

"Then, there was middle school..." Josiah said, bringing his eyes back to meet Mike's, "And that's when I met you."

Mike remained silent, but his eyes remained fixed on Josiah, who continued: "I knew all about the accident that had killed your parents... how you were forced to live out of an orphanage, and the scars that their death had left on you... and yet, despite all that, you somehow still managed to make friends, and stay positive... and I loathed you for that."

"Josiah..." Mike started, but he cut himself off when the former held up his hand, indicating to let him finish.

"I couldn't understand why I couldn't bring myself to see the world like you did again... why I couldn't find it in myself to make any actual friends; only scare people into becoming my followers."

He shot an apologetic glance over to Danny, Marina, and Violet as he spoke solemnly: "That's why I always went after you and your friends. I wanted you all to hurt until you felt the same way I did."

The trio of friends on the sidelines met his gaze with sympathetic expressions. They never would have guessed that _this_ would be the reason why he'd always targeted them for all these years.

"Then, during the two years you'd disappeared," Josiah explained as he brought his attention back to Mike, "I wasn't able to take my anger out on you anymore, so I just started taking it out on everybody else in the school. And after a while, it just didn't matter to me who I ended up hurting.

"But on the day that you came back..." Josiah grimaced as the memory of that day came into his mind, "The way you'd acted so coldly to me during our duel... REALLY put the way I'd been treating others into perspective."

Mike raised a confused eyebrow at this remark, prompting Josiah to explain further: "I'd always known that I've been a real asshole... but the vibe that I got from you that day was ruthless—even inhuman, to an extent. I was almost scared of you."

Mike winced as he too remembered his callous behavior towards Josiah that day, as did Danny, Marina, and Violet on the sidelines. The memory stung particularly harshly in Violet's mind; as that had been the day she'd feared that her lifelong love interest had turned into a cold, heartless deviant.

"I really thought you'd finally snapped, like I had..." Josiah continued, "That is, until I watched you fend off that Damian White guy at the Park 'n Shop a few days later."

Shock came over Mike's face at this information as Josiah continued: "I was working an early morning shift at the store that morning when he showed up. And I watched as you not only save a customer's life, but prevented that convict from getting away with that duel."

"You saw that...?" Mike asked with incredulity.

"Yeah," Josiah replied with a nod, "And it made me realize that you really hadn't changed as much as I'd first thought... and that really threw my world out of whack.

"But after a while, it finally hit me..." he said as his expression softened, "That if you could still be the same, good person you've always been, despite everything you seemed to have been through these last two years... then perhaps there's still a chance for me to seek redemption."

A small smile spread across Mike's lips at these words from Josiah, who continued as he looked to his duel disk: "When you came back, you said that the reason I couldn't defeat you was 'cause I didn't know what it meant to fight for something, or _someone_ ," he reminded him, "So that's why I've taken up my mother's deck... to fight in honor of her memory, and so that her good heart will always be with me."

There was a hush as the surrounding crowd of students and teachers took in everything Josiah had just said. Danny, Marina, and Violet all turned to Mike, who remained rooted where he stood as he too processed everything he'd just learned. Violet could especially see the empathy in his expression as he looked to his former archrival; it had to have come as a serious shocker to him that Josiah's behavior towards him had also stemmed from a lack of parents.

Finally, Mike broke the silence: "Well..." he breathed out as he uncrossed his arms, "All I can say to that, Josiah, is that I wish you would've told us all of this sooner."

Josiah raised a curious eyebrow as Mike explained: "Believe it or not, I think I understand exactly how you've been feeling all these years. You've been standing at the edge of an abyss; staring into the darkness that was left in your heart after the light of your world was taken from you. And I've stood at the edge of that abyss, too; more times than I care to admit.

"But I think the only difference between _us_ ," he continued, "Is that I eventually learned how to walk away from it. And that's how I managed to make the friends that I have today."

He glanced over to Danny, Marina, and Violet as he said, "I wouldn't be standing here today if it weren't for them... they're the ones who've always been there for me when I needed them most, and I'll never truly be able to express how grateful I am to have them in my life."

The trio of friends all beamed at him appreciatively in return at Mike's words. Violet, in particular, could feel the butterflies fluttering in her stomach as she looked to him passionately, feeling as though her love for him was growing stronger in that moment.

Mike, meanwhile, turned his gaze back to Josiah. "I think you've already taken the first step towards your redemption by coming here tonight," he told him, "By stepping away from that abyss to face up to everything you've done. And for that, I'm more than willing to give you that second chance.

"And what's more..." he said as his expression turned into a comforting smile, "I would be honored to call myself your first, _real_ friend."

A small gasp escaped Josiah's lips as his eyes widened at Mike's words, before it quickly shifted to a grateful smile. "You really mean that...?" he asked, as though worried Mike was playing some kind of trick on him.

Mike nodded reassuringly as he answered, "Of course."

The tears finally began to well in Josiah's eyes as he took in Mike's words of acceptance. As for everybody else in the surrounding crowd, their eyes were wide and their jaws were agape as they watched on, unable to believe the scene that they were bearing witness to.

It took a few moments, but eventually Josiah managed to compose himself, wiping the tears from his face as he looked back to his opponent. "Mike, I... I don't know what to say..." he choked out, the gratitude on his face remaining as he looked across the fountain to his opponent.

"Then how 'bout you save your words for after we finish this duel?" Mike replied as he again held up his duel disk arm.

Josiah's eyes widened as he realized that he and Mike were still facing off against each other, before his competitive smirk returned to his face. "Heh… sounds good to me," he said in agreement, "In which case, I believe my turn was just coming to a close."

"Then it's my move," Mike said, "I draw!"

The surrounding crowd remained silent as the competitive tension they'd felt earlier returned to the atmosphere. Josiah kept his eyes fixed on Mike, who was looking to the card he'd just drawn with an expression that he couldn't quite make out.

Finally, Mike let out a long sigh. "I'll set one card face down," Mike said, "And that ends my turn."

The set card materialized in front of him before he looked up to his opponent again. "Now, Josiah..." he said with a small smirk, "You wanna hear something interesting?"

"What's that?" Josiah called back to his opponent.

"The truth of the matter is..." he calmly explained, "I actually don't have _anything_ that could stop you from attacking me during your next turn. The set card I just played, the last card in my hand—they're all useless against you."

Shock ran through every other person in the gathered assembly of students and teachers at these words. Danny, Marina, and Violet were particularly stunned as they realized what Mike was implying: he didn't even have the Rainbow Kuriboh card that Violet had given him to save him in the next turn...

Josiah, meanwhile, now looked to Mike curiously. "Is that right...?" he questioned, "How do I know you're not just trying to bait me into some kind of trap?"

"Call it a show of good faith; like you did for me earlier," Mike answered, his tone shifting to one of seriousness for a moment to let Josiah know he was being honest.

"Alright..." Josiah said as he did the math in his head, "But you realize that, if I draw another monster on my next turn—"

"Yes, I know," Mike confirmed, "If you draw another monster with 1500 or more ATK, and attack with both it and your dragon, then you'll win this duel."

"WHAT?!" Danny practically shrieked as he pulled at his hair, "Don't tell me he's being serious?! Has Mike lost it for real this time?!"

Marina remained as speechless as Violet was, however the latter felt her entire body go numb as it washed over her that her earlier premonition appeared to have been right: Mike really _wasn't_ trying to win this duel after all; but rather, he was just _enjoying_ it.

Mike, meanwhile, now adjusted his footing as he lowered his duel disk arm. "So, Josiah..." he said with a challenging expression, "I leave the fate of this duel in your hands. It's your move."

Josiah nodded with understanding before looking down to his duel disk. After all these years, he _finally_ had a chance to defeat Mike, and it all he needed to do was draw _one right card..._

 _'Mom...'_ Josiah silently prayed, _'If you can hear me right now... please, allow me to draw what I need to win this duel...!'_

"Alright..." he finally said, "I draw!"

As soon as the card reached his hand, the air seemed to suddenly get much heavier as everyone held their breaths, waiting to see what the outcome of this duel would be.

Now, Josiah slowly turned the card over to see what he'd drawn... and smiled.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no..." Danny sputtered rapidly when he saw that smile appear, "What the hell did he draw...?!"

And then came the deciding moment: Josiah merely placed the card in his left hand before declaring: "Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier! Attack Mike directly!"

Everyone watched with wide eyes as Josiah's icy beast unhinged its jaw once more, letting loose another flurry of icicles towards Mike, who raised a defensive arm as the icicles shot through him, dragging his LP even further down.

 **[Mike - LP: 1500]**

As the attack reached its conclusion, Mike lowered his arm to once again lock eyes with Josiah, who he found was still grinning at him.

"You lucked out this time, Mike," he told him, "I set one card face down, and end my turn."

The trio of friends on the sidelines all breathed sighs of relief. "Oh, man..." Danny groaned, "I can't remember the last time I got so tense _watching_ a duel..."

"I don't think there's ever _been_ a moment that tense before..." said Marina as she let up on biting her lip nervously.

Violet remained silent as her heartbeat finally slowed down to a steady rate again. It looked like Mike had managed to pull through after all.

Back on the duel field, a smile took to Mike's face as he lifted his duel disk arm once more. "It's my move!" he cried out as he drew his next card, which he then glanced at quickly.

 _'Perfect...'_ Mike realized as his smile widened.

"I'll start by summoning Constellar Rasalhague!" Mike began.

 **[Constellar Rasalhague - LV: 2/ATK: 900]**

"And this little guy's effect is about to come in real handy," Mike explained as his monster suddenly disappeared in a flash of light, "By releasing my Rasalhague, he can replace himself with any other Constellar monster sleeping in my graveyard! So welcome back, Constellar Sombre!"

 **[Constellar Sombre - LV: 4/ATK: 1550]**

"Now I'm sure you remember what my Sombre's capable of," Mike said as he then took a card from his graveyard, "By banishing the Rasalhague I just released, I can then add another Constellar monster from my graveyard to my hand! And I'll once again choose Constellar Kaus!"

Mike added the card back to his hand before continuing: "Then, thanks to Sombre's other effect, I can once again summon my Constellar Kaus back to the field!"

 **[Constellar Kaus - LV: 4/ATK: 1800]**

"But I won't need to use Kaus's ability to alter any LVs this time!" Mike said as his monsters once again morphed into a spatial vortex, "I'm overlaying these two LV 4 monsters just as they are, to Xyz summon Constellar Omega!"

 **[Constellar Omega - RK: 4/ATK: 2400]**

"And it's in this moment that my Constellar Star Chart kicks in, meaning I get to draw another card!" Mike reminded everyone as he drew.

"Now, Constellar Omega!" Mike declared as he pointed at his monster's target, "Take down Josiah's Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier!"

The star-studded centaur galloped over to Josiah's field, while the latter chuckled with amusement. "Have you forgotten?" Josiah reminded him, "Your Omega's ATK strength falls a little too short to defeat my Gungnir!"

"Then it's a good thing I still have one more card to play!" Mike retorted, "I reveal my Xyz Soul trap card! This lets me return any Xyz monster in my graveyard back to my extra deck, like my Constellar Praesepe!

"Then, once that monster is back where it belongs," Mike explained as he took the card from his graveyard, "All of the monsters on my field gain ATK equal to 200 times the RK of my returned monster until the end phase! So since Praesepe's a RK 4, that's an extra 800 ATK!"

 **[Constellar Omega - ATK: 3200]**

"Let's see what your Gungnir thinks of my monster now!" Mike cried out, "Continue your assault, Constellar Omega!"

Omega now leapt up into the air, where it proceeded to land a series of blows on Gungnir using its hooves. The dragon recoiled at the assault, letting out an angry roar before eventually shattering into icy shards that twinkled slightly before fading away.

 **[Josiah - LP: 2150]**

Mike smirked satisfyingly at his move's success as the crowd around him broke out into cheers. He'd actually been unsure whether or not his move was going to succeed; but at this point, it looked like he'd finally cleared the last obstacle in his way...

"I reveal my trap card: Miracle's Wake!"

Mike was shaken out of his moment of easiness by Josiah's voice, making him go wide-eyed as he watched the last set card on Josiah's field reveal itself.

"This card revives one monster from my graveyard that was destroyed by battle this turn!" Josiah explained as a light began to shine from above the fountain water's surface before him, "So rise again: Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier!"

On cue, the dragon burst from the fountain's depths back onto Josiah's field, where it basked in the angelic glow that shone down upon it from the heavens.

 **[Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier - LV: 7/ATK: 2500]**

More cheers erupted from the crowd of students and staff around them at this exciting turn of events. Danny, Marina, and Violet's faces had shifted into flabbergasted expressions as they stared at Josiah's reborn creature, unable to believe that he had managed to turn the tables back on Mike just as quickly as the latter had done to him.

As Josiah placed his used up trap card into his graveyard, a mournful expression came to his face. _'Miracle's Wake... that always was your favorite card...'_ he spoke silently, _'You always believed that it was possible for miracles to happen to anyone; even for those who'd lost all hope in their lives...'_

His lips curled into an appreciative smile. _'Thank you, Mom... for giving me one last miracle tonight.'_

He now looked back up to Mike, whose eyes were darting back and forth between the two remaining cards in his hand. "I'll set two cards face down," he wrapped up, "And that's my turn."

 **[Constellar Omega - ATK: 2400]**

The two set cards materialized on Mike's field as the grin on Josiah's face broadened. _'Alright, he's down to his last few cards...'_ Josiah figured, _'If I can just get past his Omega, I'll have this duel won...!'_

"Okay..." Josiah said with determination as he drew his next card, "It's my turn!

"I'll immediately discard my last card to activate Gungnir's effect," he started, "And destroy your Constellar Omega!"

Gungnir once again unleashed a breath of frost towards the star-studded centaur, just like it had done to Mike's Praesepe before.

"Not this time!" Mike countered as he flipped his own set card, "I activate my Breakthrough Skill trap card! Gungnir's effects are negated for the remainder of the turn!"

The frost that Gungnir has shot towards Constellar Omega was intercepted by Mike's trap, creating a thin sheet of ice that encased the card before shattering it.

"Tch..." Josiah clicked his tongue, "Well, it doesn't matter; 'cause my dragon's ATK strength is higher than your Omega's again!

"So go, Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier!" Josiah cried out, "Destroy Constellar Omega once and for all!"

The dragon took to the skies before unhinging its jaw yet again, from which it launched another barrage of icicles towards the monster that had just destroyed it the previous turn. The centaur flinched as each icicle pierced through its armor, eventually resulting in an explosion that enveloped Mike's side of the field with thick smoke.

 **[Mike - LP: 1400]**

Josiah crossed his arms as the smile returned to his face. "I think it's safe to say that I've got this duel won, Mike!" he called out to his opponent, "Even if you throw out another monster to defend yourself on your next turn, my Gungnir's effect will wipe it out, and end this duel with one last direct attack!"

"You think so, huh?"

Confusion spread across Josiah's face at these words as the smoke on the opposing field began to lift, revealing Mike as he looked back to Josiah with a confident smile of his own.

"Hate to break it to you, Josiah; but there _is_ no next turn!" he exclaimed as his hand rose over his remaining set card, "I reveal my final trap card: Xyz Xtreme! By paying 1000 LP when one of my Xyz monsters is destroyed by battle—"

 **[Mike - LP: 400]**

"—I can then force both players to reveal one other Xyz monster in their extra deck that has a RK equal to or less than my destroyed monster's RK! And whoever reveals the monster with the least ATK takes the difference between those two monsters' ATKs as damage!"

Josiah's eyes shot open as he realized: "Wait... but I don't have any Xyz monsters in my extra deck...!"

"Then I guess you'll be taking my monster's full ATK power as damage," Mike said simply as he held up his selected card, "As for me... the monster I'm revealing is my RK 4 Constellar Praesepe!"

The shock that had grabbed Josiah's expression spread across the faces of everybody else around them as the same realization hit them all at once:

"So that's why he played Xyz Soul earlier...!" Marina figured as the awe spread across her face, "He needed Praesepe back in his extra deck!"

"Because Praesepe's a RK 4 monster with 2400 ATK," Danny calculated aloud, "Which is just enough to take out Josiah's remaining LP! Of course!"

Meanwhile, a ghostly apparition of Constellar Praesepe took form on Mike's side of the field as the latter declared his final attack: "Now, Constellar Praesepe! It's about time we finished this duel!"

The apparition of Praesepe glided its way across the fountain towards the opposing field, speeding past Gungnir as he pulled back his fist, winding up to unleash one last, devastating blow. Josiah braced himself for the attack as the star-studded warrior thrusted its gold-clad fist through him, depleting the last of his remaining LP.

 **[Josiah - LP: 0]**

 **[Winner: Mike]**

The ghostly form of Praesepe retracted its fist from Josiah as it and Gungnir both faded away from the field, and the duel disks on both duelists' arms deactivated. Danny, Marina, and Violet, as well as the rest of the surrounding crowd, all watched with silent astonishment as they watched Josiah fall to his knees, while Mike now began to circle his way around the fountain towards him.

"Heh..." Josiah panted as the last of his dueling adrenaline left his body, "I guess you really _did_ have it planned down to the last detail..."

"Actually, I _was_ taking a legitimate chance when I gave you that one turn to defeat me," Mike admitted as he stopped before his opponent, "But regardless, that was a really great duel, Josiah."

Josiah's lips curled into a small smirk as he nodded in agreement, before picking himself back up to stand on his feet to meet Mike at full height again.

"So..." Josiah said, his tone turning somewhat anxious now, "You really meant what you said before? About wanting to be my first, _real_ friend?"

"I would never lie about something like that," Mike assured him, "You more than proved yourself to me through this duel. You've earned both my friendship, and my respect."

He shot a quick look over his shoulder towards his trio of friends on the sidelines. "And if I were a gambling man, I'd wager that my friends might just be willing to accept you as their friend too, now."

"Whoa, hang on a sec..." Danny cut in as he stepped out of the crowd to join Mike and Josiah, "Don't go puttin' words in my mouth, Mike. I'm still kinda sore about all the crap that this guy's put us through over the years."

A disheartened look came to Josiah's face as Mike frowned at his best friend, whose expression suddenly shifted from a cross scowl to a small smirk as he then said: " _BUT_... if he's really as much of a changed man as you say he is, then I _might_ just be able to put all that behind me, give or take a little time."

Josiah's expression turned back into one of appreciation at Danny's sudden one-eighty, while Mike's face turned back into a smile as he realized the joke his best friend had pulled on the both of them.

"That goes double for me," Marina then spoke out as she now stepped forward to join the others too, "Any friend of Mike's is a friend of mine too, after all."

Her cheeks flushed slightly red as she glanced at Danny, who looked back to her with admiration as he realized that she'd borrowed his quote from after his duel with Aeron.

Violet now moved to join the rest of her friends as well, taking her place beside Mike as she said, "And if we're all willing to give you a second chance, then the rest of the school might just be ready to give you one, too."

"I'd say there's a good chance of that..." Mike agreed before turning to face the rest of the surrounding crowd.

"What say you, Dexterity High?!" he cried out with open arms, "Has Josiah earned his shot at redemption after tonight's duel?!"

The students and staff around them broke out into a round of thunderous applause and cheers in response. Some were even whistling ecstatically, while others began to chant Josiah's name in a pep-rally-type fashion.

Mike now lowered his arms as Josiah slowly turned his head to meet the great number of smiling faces that were now cheering for him. The tears once again began to form in his eyes as he felt an overwhelming number of emotions beginning to wash over him.

"That sounds like a 'yes' to me, Josiah," Mike said as he glanced at his former adversary with a smile.

Josiah turned his gaze back to Mike, returning the smile with one of his own as he once again wiped away the tears from his eyes. "Mike..." he managed to choke out as he struggled to pull himself together, "Thank you..."

Mike only extended a hand out to Josiah, who took it with gratitude as they shook. The cheers from the rest of the crowd around them only amplified in volume as they celebrated ecstatically, taking in the fact that the short remainder of time that they had left in Dexterity High School would be spent knowing that they no longer had reason to fear Josiah anymore.

As the applause from the students and staff gradually came to a close, Dr. Crawford took his chance to step out from the crowd towards the gathered group of friends, who all turned to face him when they noticed his approach.

"Well, Josiah..." he said with an impressed tone as he stopped a few paces away from the teenagers, "I think I speak on behalf of the rest of the school when I say that you've really proven yourself to us all as a new man. Please, feel welcome to stay for the remainder of tonight's festivities."

"Dr. Crawford..." Josiah said as the smile on his face somehow managed to grow even broader, before nodding appreciatively to his principal before politely responding, "Thank you. I appreciate it."

Dr. Crawford returned the nod with one of his own, before turning to address the rest of the students around him: "So, now that tonight's exciting dueling spectacle is over, I believe that we were in the middle of a Prom, were we not?" he exclaimed grandly, "Let's get back to the fun and dancing!"

More cheers erupted from all of the students now as Dexterity High's principal led the way back inside of the _La Comté Dame Beaulieu's_ spacious banquet room, which quickly began to echo again with the music that had been blasting just before Josiah's arrival.

As the pair of Mike and Violet followed along with the rest of the students filing back into the hotel, the latter eventually came to a sudden realization as she swiveled her head to look around: "Hey, where did the others disappear to?" she questioned over the chattering students and blaring music.

At this, they both came to a halt as Mike scanned the crowd for their friends. "Huh..." he mused, a puzzled expression coming to his face as he glanced around, "I'm not sure... must've gotten separated by the crowd as we came in."

As the words came out of Mike's mouth, the electronic music that'd been playing in the background faded back into silence, followed by the subtle sound of gentle acoustic guitar chords as the song _"You and Me" by Lifehouse_ began to reverberate throughout the banquet room.

"Oh..." Violet said as her ears perked at the sudden change in music; her cheeks blushing as she reverted back to her shy, quiet self, "A slow dance song..."

Mike immediately picked up on Violet's sudden tone shift as he looked to her: she'd turned her head away from him as her hands began to nervously fidget with each other, as though a sudden spike of anxiety had overcome her. But unlike the many times that Mike had born witness to this kind of activity from Violet, this time he knew for certain what was causing her so much unease: she couldn't bring herself to ask him for a dance.

"Well..." Mike began to speak, realizing that _now_ was the moment that he'd been waiting for, "Would you, uh... would you like to dance?"

Violet felt her heart skip a beat as she looked to Mike with wide eyes, while the latter looked back to her with a gentle smile as he extended a hand out to her. She could feel her cheeks burning as her heartbeat started to throb at a pace she'd never experienced before.

"Sure..." she finally answered softly as she took Mike's hand, allowing herself to be guided by him towards the dance floor.

As the two of them stepped onto the smooth, golden marble below their feet, little did Violet know that Mike's mind was racing as quickly as hers was as he internally scrambled to decide what his next words ought to be. But despite his efforts, all he could draw were blanks as his eyes remained fixated on Violet's; as though her gaze had stolen his words away from him.

Now, Mike raised up the hand that was holding Violet's, while his other hand moved down to rest on her waist. Violet's free hand, meanwhile, wrapped itself around his back as the two of them began to sway to the rhythm of the music:

 ** _What day is it? And in what month? This clock never seemed so alive._**

"How do you do it?"

Mike snapped out of his silent stupor at Violet's words, before looking down at her with a raised eyebrow. "Do what?" he asked her curiously.

"Just... you're always able to bring out the best in people," she explained with a small smile, "With Dr. Crawford, with Josiah... with my dad, Danny, and Marina... and with me."

Mike let out a small chuckle. "Well, I guess it's easy..." he said, "When you have someone who's able to bring out the best in you, too."

 ** _I can't keep up, and I can't back down. I've been losing so much time._**

Violet could hear the pulsating beat of her heart reverberating in her ears as Mike's words sent a fervent shiver down her spine; the grip that she had on the small of his back began to tighten subconsciously as she listened to him continue: "It's like I told Josiah; despite everything I've been through... every bad day, every wrong turn... I was able to pull through it all thanks to you, Danny, and Marina. Even while I was in Frontier Haven, it was the thought of all of you that helped me make it through even the worst of times.

"But above all else..." Mike's tone now became more compassionate as his calm, oceanic orbs stared deeply into Violet's sparkling, silver ones, "Out of everyone, the one person who's always brought out the best in me... who's been my light in the darkness... has been _you_ , Violet."

 ** _'Cause it's you and me, and all of the people with nothing to do, nothing to lose._**

Violet was speechless as she felt a gravitational force beginning to enact itself on the two of them. Before she knew it, her arms had started to slowly wrap themselves around Mike's neck, while the latter's hands came to rest on both sides of her hips, pulling them even closer together.

The two could feel each other's heavy breaths upon their faces now as they slowly inched towards each other, closing the distance between them. The world felt like it was falling away as they watched each other's eyes close, their last glimpse of reality before their lips finally came to meet. All at once, an intense surge of warmth began to spread throughout their bodies, as though the two of them had joined to become one in a moment of electrifying ecstasy.

 ** _And it's you and me, and all of the people. And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you._**

And then—just as quickly as it had begun—the kiss was over. Mike and Violet's lips now pulled away from each other as both of their eyes fluttered open; the latter's expression one of sheer astoundment as her gaze once again returned to Mike's warm, passionate eyes, as he finally brought himself to say the words that she had been waiting to hear since the day she'd first fallen for him:

"I love you."

Violet just stood there, stunned silent as she stared longingly at the boy she'd kept her feelings from for nearly ten years. And then—without warning—she swiftly pulled him back in with her arms for another kiss; their lips remaining locked with each other only a few moments longer than their first one had before separating again.

"I love you, too..." Violet finally said with a slight quiver as she continued to stare back at him, the butterflies in her stomach now soaring to new heights as the exhilaration overcame her mind and body.

Mike, with the same feeling coursing through himself as well, smiled as he leaned in to steal yet another kiss from Violet, pulling her closer to him with his hands as they both took in every last sensation they could from the moment.

Little did either of them know that, from a short distance away across the dance floor, Danny and Marina were also dancing together; watching tentatively as their two friends' love finally came to fruition.

"Aha, y'see that? What'd I tell ya?!" Danny exclaimed with a wide grin as he looked on.

Marina just shook her head with amusement. "No, I'll admit it; you were right," she said, sounding as though she couldn't believe the words that were coming out of her mouth, "Leaving those two on their own for this song _was_ a good idea after all."

 ** _All of the things that I want to say just aren't coming out right._**

Danny chuckled giddily at this admission from Marina. "Well, I mean, I _do_ have my moments..." he said smugly, though his tone implied he was doing so jokingly.

"Mhm..." Marina hummed as her gaze returned back to her dance partner, "So... when are you gonna pick _your_ moment?"

Danny's head swiveled to look back down at Marina with a muddled expression. "My moment to what?" he asked obliviously.

"To _kiss_ _me_ , idiot," Marina answered, with a teasing smile.

 ** _I'm tripping on words, you got my head spinning. I don't know where to go from here._**

Danny's expression turned stiff as his eyes widened. "W-what...?" he stammered through nervous laughter, "W-what're you talking about...?"

"Come on, don't play dumb on me now," Marina said as she rolled her eyes, "It's no secret that we like each other, is it?"

Danny opened his mouth to answer, but quickly shut it, defeat spreading across his face as he realized that there was no backing out of this conversation.

Now, before he could even come up with an appropriate answer, Marina suddenly seemed to press herself up against him as the smirk on her face turned into a flirty, playful one. "What?" she said with a slightly alluring tone, "Don't you have something to say? I'm sure you've fantasized about this moment a thousand times over."

Danny's expression now turned to utter confoundment as he looked back at Marina, unable to believe the words he was hearing come from Marina's mouth. He'd _never_ seen this kind of provocative side of hers before, much less imagined that she could even _have_ a side like this.

 ** _'Cause it's you and me, and all of the people with nothing to do, nothing to prove._**

"Uh… I mean, I…" Danny stumbled over his words as he desperately tried to repress the red color that was starting to fill his face, "That is to say, uh… I don't..."

"Hey," Marina cut him off as she cupped his face with one hand, "Just stop talking."

And without another word, she now pulled Danny's face towards her own, landing her lips directly on his as she closed her eyes, losing herself in the heat of the moment. Simultaneously, Danny's eyes went wide with surprise as he struggled for a moment to register what was actually happening. But before long, his natural instincts quickly overcame him as his eyes closed, allowing himself to also be lost in the blissful sensation that came with feeling her lips against his own.

 ** _And it's you and me, and all other people. And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you._**

The kiss lasted a few moments before they eventually separated. Marina's eyes fluttered open to see that Danny's eyes had returned to nearly bulging out of their sockets, while his jaw had dropped so low that it might've hit the floor if it sank any lower. An amused smile spread across her lips as she watched him internally scrambling, trying to bring his thoughts back to a coherent state again.

"Wow..." he finally breathed out after a few moments, "That... was actually _way_ better than what I'd fantasized."

Marina couldn't help but giggle at this response as Danny now leaned in to set his lips on Marina's once more, wanting to experience the invigorating sensation that came with their lips meeting again.

 ** _Something about you now, I can't quite figure out._**

 ** _Everything she does is beautiful, everything she does is right._**

"Well, would you look at that."

Danny and Marina quickly pulled away from each other again as they both turned to see where the sudden voice had come from: there was Mike and Violet, dancing together beside them as they watched the pair with sly smiles.

"So you two are official, huh?" Mike continued to tease, "Took you long enough."

"Oh, like YOU'RE one to talk!" Danny retorted hysterically, "And c'mon, we let you guys have YOUR moment in private!"

Mike, Violet, and Marina couldn't stop themselves from laughing at Danny for a moment, causing the sour expression on the latter's face to quickly shift back into a smile as he joined in. And soon enough, the laughter eventually subsided as Violet and Marina burrowed themselves in their partners' chests contently, while Mike and Danny each held their loved ones as they continued swaying to the song's rhythm, losing themselves in the magic of the night.

 ** _'Cause it's you and me, and all of the people with nothing to do, nothing to lose._**

 ** _And it's you and me, and all of the people. And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you._**

* * *

 ** _\- FLASHBACK -_**

The night air was only mildly chilly in Frontier Haven as Mike sat curled up on the short steps to Samael's shack.

He'd been staring blankly down the moonlit, empty roads of the town for the last half hour; still struggling to come to terms with the atrocity he'd committed earlier that day. But unfortunately, the way that Samael had essentially shown him off like a trophy to the rest of the townsfolk when they'd returned from Saddleburry earlier certainly hadn't helped bring him any closer to finding closure:

 _"Here's to Mike Harper, the new champion of Frontier Haven!"_ Samael had cried out as he held one of Mike's arms up by his wrist, _"No longer will we bow down to the tyranny of Keir, and all others like him!"_

While everybody else in the town had clapped and cheered as Mike stood before them, it didn't seem to occur to anyone just how tormented he really felt behind the false smile he'd worn in that moment. Nor did anybody seem to care, as the people of Frontier Haven spent the remainder of the day in rather celebratory and uplifted spirits; the few children in the town that parents had been hiding in their homes actually came outside to play, while everybody else went about their business with smiles on their faces and energy in their voices; all of which were stark contrasts to how things were when Mike had first arrived in town a few days before.

As for Mike, he'd spent the remainder of his day hiding away in Samael's place, wanting to be alone as he desperately tried to reconstruct his crumbling sanity. But unfortunately, even now, as he took in the serene quietude of the desert town, he just couldn't find it in himself to make peace with having pulled the trigger that had ended Keir's life.

He didn't even raise his head to look when he heard the footsteps of Aeron approaching from around the shack. He stopped a few feet away from Mike as he eyed him from behind his long, black bangs, almost as though he were thinking about whether or not he ought to put a dying animal out of its misery.

"Hey," he said monotonously, "You okay?"

Mike finally lifted his head to meet Aeron's crimson orbs with his oceanic ones. "Fine," he lied through a cracked voice, not even attempting to try and hide behind his words now.

Aeron stood in awkward silence as he continued to watch Mike, who'd averted his eyes again as his head returned to rest on his arms that were wrapped around his legs. In the back of his mind, he was half-hoping that perhaps Aeron had some words of wisdom to share with him; something to help him cope with his first time taking a life.

But instead, all he heard Aeron reply with was a nonchalant, "Alright," before his footsteps began walking away from him.

Mike let out a long sigh as he pulled his legs even closer to himself. Aeron could show him how to duel like his life was on the line, but he couldn't be bothered to help his pupil in dealing with having killed someone, just as he'd done a hundred times over already.

"Don't mind him. He's not exactly the 'caring' type."

He swiveled his head around to look where the voice had come from: there was Casey, walking towards him from right where Aeron had popped up just moments before.

Now Mike let out a quick chuckle as Casey took a seat on the steps beside him. "Yeah, I kinda had that figured when he almost killed me the day that we met."

Casey nodded as she glanced to where Aeron had walked off. "Honestly, I sometimes find it hard to believe that he even _has_ emotions," she admitted, "But I guess he never would've fought for Frontier Haven if he didn't care."

Mike remained silent as he just nodded, prompting Casey to glance at him thoughtfully. "You're not really 'fine,' are you?" she questioned.

He lifted his head again to meet Casey's gaze; the concern in her dark-brown eyes was unmistakable to him, as he'd seen that same look on the faces of Violet, Danny, and Marina before.

He shook his head. "What's it matter to you?" he asked back, "I don't see why you'd care about how I feel."

Despite the harshness of his words, Casey didn't showcase any sign of taking offense or anything of the sort. Instead, her expression only softened as she replied, "Because I still remember the first time I had to take a life... only I was _eight_ at the time."

Mike's eyes widened at this detail, and he lifted himself into an upright sitting position as Casey turned away, a reflective expression coming to her face. "I was actually born in Frontier Haven, you know... but, my mom died soon after she gave birth to me."

"I'm sorry," Mike said sympathetically.

Casey gave a short nod before lifting up her right hand, looking to where a silver ring with a red jewel was wrapped around her index finger. "When she passed, her mother—my grandma—raised me on her own," she explained, "She did everything she could to protect me from the dangers of living here. She even got up in Samael's face once and told him, so long as she lived, that she wouldn't let me fight in any life-or-death duels.

"But as soon after she passed away..." she lowered her hand as her expression turned distraught, "Keir actually chose me to duel... bastard wanted to see if a little girl could 'fend for herself under extreme pressure'."

"But you won that duel, right?" Mike said with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, I wouldn't be here today if I didn't," Casey confirmed, "But like you, because of my Mark's power, I ended up hurting the guy I faced really badly during that duel... before I had to..."

Her voice trailed off, but Mike didn't need her to finish that sentence to know how the story ended.

Now she let out a heavy sigh. "I've fought in twenty-six more life-or-death duels since then," she said as she brought her gaze back to Mike, "But it's always the first one that cuts the deepest into your psyche."

Mike nodded at this, before sitting in silence for a time as he took in Casey's words. From the tone of her voice, he could tell that every word she'd just said was the truth; and that she really _was_ trying to sympathize with him in any way she could.

"Does it ever get easier?" he finally asked, "Living with it, I mean."

Casey sat and thought on this question for a moment. "Mm... a little, I guess," she answered, "But there's no real way to get the part of you that you lose from it back. All you can do is just... try to fill the hole with something else."

Mike's expression fell even more so at these words. "I think that's gonna be a little bit harder for me to do this time..."

Casey now looked to him with a raised eyebrow as she repeated, "This time?"

Mike nodded solemnly as a different kind of pain now filled his face. As it did, Casey immediately caught on to the fact that she'd just touched upon a very sensitive subject.

Finally, Mike explained, "When I was six, I... I watched a fire burn my home to the ground... while my parents were trapped inside it."

Casey's eyes went wide as she kept her gaze fixated on Mike, who continued, "I still remember, in the aftermath, how the firefighters said there was no evidence to explain what started it... but even then, something in my gut that it was _my_ fault, for whatever reason.

"And then, when I first arrived here..." he said as he now pulled up his left shirt sleeve, revealing the X-shaped scar etched in his skin, "When Samael told me about _this_... I just knew that _this_ had to be what caused that fire... what killed my parents..."

The look in Casey's eyes turned to sympathy as Mike now rolled his sleeve back down. "I lived with that for five years while stuck in an orphanage; cared for by a nun who didn't actually give a damn about the kids she took care of... I wasn't able to find any closure until I was finally old enough to attend the public middle school. That's when I met my friends..."

A half-smile began to spread across his lips as the faces of Danny, Marina, and Violet now entered his mind. "Those guys... they've always been my light in the darkness. Without them, I don't think I could've ever lived with myself... I owe those guys the world for everything they've done for me.

"But now..." the smile on Mike's face disappeared just as quickly as it had come, "They're not here anymore. And I'm alone."

Casey's expression was now one of empathy as she then slid her hand in to take one of Mike's. "Hey," she said, "You're not alone."

Mike finally turned to meet her eyes again as she gave him a warm smile. "That's the difference between you and me," she told him, "I really _was_ alone after my Grandma passed; and when I took my first life. So I won't let you go through the same experiences I had on your own, too."

Mike could only stare back at Casey with surprise for a few moments, before the smile returned to his face, this time wider and full of gratitude. "I appreciate that," he said as he gently gripped Casey's hand a little tighter, "Thank you."

Casey responded by giving his hand a comforting squeeze in return as they sat there, their eyes twinkling as they gazed at each other beneath the moonlight.

 ** _\- FLASHBACK END -_**

* * *

 **Next Time**

 **Chapter 12: "Grudge"**

* * *

 ***I do not own the rights to the song "You and Me" by Lifehouse and/or its lyrics. The song's presence in this story is intended solely for recreational, non-profit use.***

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

 _Alrighty, I don't wanna drag this A/N on any longer than it needs to be. So let's just jump right into our..._

 ** _QnA PANEL - ANSWERS!_**

 ** _DISCLAIMER:_** _For both length-reducing purposes and personal reasons, I will not be addressing EVERY question that I've received. Any questions I don't answer here, I can personally PM my answers to my questioners if they wish, provided I feel comfortable answering them._

* * *

 **Assassinkai742** ** _asks:_** _Will you be using Pendulums in your story? Just curious if you are XD._

 ** _Answer:_** _For the time being, I'm gonna say no because I have an established timeline for the evolution of the Duel Monsters' rules set, and said evolution has yet to surface in the story. So for the time being, Pendulums don't exist... or do they?_ o.O

 _Will I potentially use them in the future? Maybe. All depends on opportunity. :P_

* * *

 **liamnewberry2** **_asks:_** _Which themes found in literature do you find to be the most fun/interesting to explore, and do you at any time receive criticism from readers because of your choice in those themes?_

 ** _Answer:_** _I'm most enthralled by conflicts between the essences of light and darkness (and/or good and evil). In fact, a former story I once ran on this site centered around exactly that kind of topic: main character with amnesia who appears to be on the side of light (good), but is forced to deal with the dark (evil) side dwelling within him._

 _In this story, it's (kind of) along the same lines: Mike is a character who is trying to find the good within himself again after committing atrocities beyond his darkest nightmares over the last two years. It's a theme I've yet to delve deeply into with him though, but that's going to change soon..._

 _Criticism for it? Oh, naturally. "Everyone's a critic," y'know? Not that I blame anyone for it; people have their preferences of things they like, I have mine. I only focus on criticism that's constructively helpful; and I do receive plenty of that. ^^ But I've no reason to pander to the needs of others simply because they "don't like it."_

* * *

 **lovelock9000** ** _asks:_** _Where did you learn how to develop such good characters and a great story?_

 ** _Answer:_** _Well, I don't know if the story and characters are THAT good… my short answer would be LOTS of English classes, and reading LOTS and LOTS of books throughout my youth. XD_

 _Personally, I think this story's real strength comes from a realization that I had a few years ago: throughout the many stories that I've analyzed over the years, I often found that almost EVERY character ended up having SOME MINIMAL type of involvement with the primary plot. And the more I thought about it, the more I began to think, "... that's bullsh*t."_

 _In a realistic world, not everyone follows the same plot-appointed path as each other. Everyone has their own lives, and their own stories. "Mark of Death" was shaped with this idea in mind—Mike's struggle is that of someone struggling to fit back into a world that he's been torn away from for too long, but his past prevents him from being able to do so. Everybody else in this world he's trying to come back to already has their own lives, wants, and needs, and not all of them will influence/be influenced by his personal conflicts in the story, despite him being the main protagonist. BUT, it'll be the extreme circumstances of Mike's life that will have—*ahem*—"interesting" effects on the lives of everyone else..._

 _(*For those of you I've talked to about what the REAL plot of the story is: THIS, right here, is my explanation.)_

* * *

 **Assassinkai742** ** _asks:_** _I noticed Mike used Infernities in his duel with Keir when I thought he would be using Constellars. My question is, if he got Infernities from Aeron, then where did he get his Constellars from? Or who did he get them from?_

 ** _Answer:_** _An excellent question... and a detail I'm glad that SOMEONE picked up on._

 _Without spoiling anything... the person/thing that he receives the Constellar deck from HAS already appeared in the story. Matter of fact, there are details in the beginning of the story that, if you connect a few dots, you might be able to figure out who/where it came from~_

* * *

 **Sunflesh** ** _asks:_** _I was wondering about Mike and the Infernity deck he used back in Saddlebury. Sticking true to YGO tradition, it seems that you always pick a deck for characters that, you know, reflects their personalities and/or motives in some way; so, my question is, why Infernity as an archetype?_

 ** _Answer:_** _Well, there's a few different reasons:_

 _One - The deck was handed down to him by Aeron, who's a shady, denizen-of-hell-like guy. Infernities are kinda hell-denizen-like; makes sense for a guy like him, no?_

 _Two - From a storytelling standpoint, the Infernities are representative of Mike's descent into the hell that Frontier Haven puts him through. His apparent abandonment of them in the main story in favor of Constellars instead is also symbolic of him trying to distance himself from that past._

 _Three - Shameless confession here... I f*cking love Kiryu from 5D's. Infernities are awesome, and I used them for quite a long time myself back in the day. So I wanted to include them for my own kicks and giggles. ^^_

* * *

 **Master Of Anime224** ** _asks:_** _I know the flashbacks are influenced by your love of CW's Arrow, but what other works inspired the themes in this story?_

 _ **Answer:**_ _Well, obviously all the Yu-Gi-Oh! series' did some of that work. XD But thinking back on it, the first initial drafts of this story actually came to be when I was watching through GX season 4 for the first time. So I think a lot of the whole changed-person bit that Mike has in this story has a bit of influence from Judai._

 _The main driving points of this story's themes, however, come from a lot of dark and troubling parts of my own personal life that I've needed to find ways to exorcise so that they don't put me into a majorly depressive rut. But I'd rather not go into too much detail on that front publicly; I'm sure you understand._

* * *

 **liamnewberry2** ** _asks:_** _Did you feel you were obliged to insert romance into the story simply because of the multi-gendered nature of your cast, or were you just trying to make the romance of your story obvious so it would be easier to pick up on?_

 ** _Answer:_** _To be honest, a good ol' fashioned romance is a default in my storytelling toolbox. I don't know why; maybe it's 'cause love's the most powerful force in the universe? "All you need is love~"_

 _The reason this story has been so romance-heavy so far, is because it's the primary driving force of Violet's character. Her character is an obsessive, lovesick, teenage girl who longs for those romantic feelings to be reciprocated, and she particularly wants it from the one boy she's known since her childhood. And because she's the one closest to our hero's heart as well, she's gotten a lot of attention while Mike's development has occurred through other means, such as the flashbacks._

 _As for the romance between Danny and Marina... that romance was actually a last-second decision near the completion of this season's development; a decision I came to so I could make a more powerful impact on those characters in future events._

* * *

 **lovelock9000** ** _asks:_** _Was Violet's appearance and personality made from your own love interest?_

 ** _Answer:_** _Eh... somewhat. Violet's appearance is actually based off of an old love interest I USED to have. I've been planning this story for over 4 years now; and that's when I'd first created Violet. Her characterization, on the other hand, is essentially a cliche that I gave her for the purpose of giving her a means to create conflict, but there IS more to her than just being a lovesick puppy..._

 _Also, her blatant connection with the color purple (her purple hair, her name literally being a shade of purple)... well, another shameless confession: purple is my favorite color. XD_

* * *

 **Assassinkai742** ** _asks:_** _I have been curious about this for a while but who is the Cyber style heir that was mentioned a few chapters ago? I can't wait to see some Cyber Dragon vs Constellar action. Did Mike get his Constellars from them?_

 ** _Answer:_** _Refer to my answer to your second question about where Mike got his Constellars from._

 _As for the Cyber Style Heir... his debut is actually coming in the NEXT chapter, and his character is one I've been ITCHING to get out into this story, so stay tuned!_

* * *

 _Okay, that was an excellent QnA! Thanks to everyone who submitted questions! I hope my answers proved somewhat insightful to you all! ^^_

 _And as always, thank you all so much for reading, and for being such freaking awesome readers and friends to me. And a 60+ review-count after only 10 chapters? You guys are the best; really and truly. I'm legit gonna get emotional, man. ;-;_

 _Now, for today's shout-outs: first one goes to Komori Rias/silvernet again, for her insightful three-review analysis of the story. I do hope that the above QnA answers helped answer any lingering questions you had. ^^_

 _Second: to my good friend Master Of Anime224 for beta'ing a great majority of this chapter. You always know the best way to get sh*t moving when I can't see it right in front of me. xD_

 _Lastly: and this also acts as a warm welcome—to my new buddy Sunflesh, who has joined my merry band of betas! Your help was crucial in getting the romantic scenes in this chapter done. It's good to have you on the team; and I look forward to working with you more in the future, man._

 _That's all from me. I'll see y'all in the next chapter, where things are gonna start getting serious... but until then, stay awesome._

* * *

 ** _\- Last Revised: Jul. 1, 2017 -_**


	12. Grudge

**Yu-Gi-Oh! Mark of Death**

 **Chapter 12: "Grudge"**

 **Opening Theme: "Raining" by Art Of Dying**

 **Ending Theme: "Behind Blue Eyes" by Limp Bizkit**

* * *

The transition into the first weeks of June was a peaceful one; much to the merriment of the students at Dexterity High School.

As the end of the school year drew near, the excitement for summer was becoming palpable through the enthralled spirits of the school population. By the day, more and more students and teachers were now walking into school wearing shorts and t-shirts rather than pants and long-sleeved shirts. Dr. Crawford had even started wearing floral Hawaiian shirts now and then to help in welcoming the summer season.

But what was better than all that was the fact that the students of Dexterity High were able to go about their days without the fear of being harassed by Josiah now that he was back. Now, not only was he always smiling and respectful with everyone, but he'd even started helping out others whenever he saw the opportunity. He'd even gone as far as standing up to a few of his rogue former followers from the football team when they tried to pick a fight with Danny, Marina, and Violet during lunch one day.

And speaking of them, the trio of friends most definitely had a better few weeks than anybody else did following the Prom. While it was great that they were finally able to call Josiah their friend, that hardly compared to the fact that they'd finally learned that the person they cared for most in the world reciprocated their feelings; thus turning their once-teenage-fantasies into a reality.

Sadly, the friends didn't get to spend as much time with their significant others during the main school day as they'd have liked to: Marina was still only a Junior while Danny and Violet were Seniors, and Mike didn't even attend school with them. But they were always able to make up for the time when they went to meet up with Mike at the old construction site trailer during the afternoon. However, Violet's time with Mike during these after-school hangouts was also limited due to the fact that he still had his nightly Pro Dueling classes to attend to in the following few hours.

But she actually didn't mind; on the contrary, she and Mike were actually able to take advantage of this with how late Mike's classes ended. By the time Mike arrived back at the apartment around 10:30 PM every night, Bulbous was already fast asleep, leaving Mike and Violet all the time they could've asked for to stay up late and be alone together, which was the epitome of joy for the latter.

Although, while Violet thoroughly enjoyed the time she got to spend with him in these late hours of the night, there was just one small thing that continued to get under her skin: the fact that, whenever she tried to talk with Mike about his time in Frontier Haven, or his still-missing friend from there, he'd always steer the conversation away from the subject. She had been hoping that, now that they were _finally_ a couple, Mike would be more willing to open up to her about the events that had transformed him over the time he'd been gone.

Even so, she couldn't find it in herself to take personal offense against Mike for wanting to keep that part of his life to himself. After all, like he had said to her and the others when he'd first gotten back: it wasn't so much a matter of how much he had to tell, than it was about _what_ he had to tell.

So after having her third attempt to delve into his last few years shot down, she came to the conclusion that perhaps it was better to leave the subject alone. After all, no matter how much he might've changed over the last couple of years, it didn't seem like anything particular from it was negatively affecting him at present. Even the case of his missing friend seemed to have been put on the back-burner in his mind, so Violet saw no point in bringing it up if it was only going to bring Mike pain.

Unfortunately, little did Violet realize that she wouldn't be able to keep him from feeling the pain of his past for long...

* * *

"Alright, who'd win in a duel? Samantha Delaney, or Slade Maxwell?"

"Sam, duh. She's never been beaten."

Mike and Danny's ongoing debate continued from across the opposite ends of the construction site trailer that warm Friday afternoon. Mike sat on the couch closest to the door, while Violet sat leaning against him with her head comfortably rested on his shoulder, smiling to herself as she took in how amusing the boys' interaction was.

Across the trailer, Danny sat in one of the old chairs holding Marina in his lap. Though the latter had her arms wrapped affectionately around the neck of her boyfriend, the look she was shooting at Violet was one of exasperation, as though she were asking, _'How did we get into this stupid debate again?'_

Now, Danny shook his head. "Hm, I dunno, man," he said, "Slade's had a pretty good reputation going for him in the Pro Circuit lately. I think he'd have a shot."

"I'd agree, except Sam's gone undefeated for a really long time," Mike replied.

"So has Slade!"

"Yeah, for the last year. Sam's streak has been going for _six_."

Danny opened his mouth to argue, but no sound came out as he realized he didn't have an argument against that fact. Marina, meanwhile, chuckled for the first time since the conversation had begun. "Wow. And Mike's been gone for the last two years," she finally interjected, "Yet he knew that when you didn't, Danny?"

"Hey, gimme a break!" Danny looked to Marina with outrage, "You really can't back me up just ONCE now that I'm your boyfriend?!"

"Boyfriend or not," said Marina with a sly smile, "I'll never pass up a chance to embarrass you."

Danny could only bow his head sadly as Violet let out a short giggle. "Don't take it personally, Danny," she said as she lifted her head, "Mike's been making it a point to know his Pro duelists since he might be facing them for a living soon."

"Oh yeah, speaking of that..." Marina redirected her attention to Mike, "How much longer do you have to take those Pro Dueling classes anyway?"

"Actually, my final test is on Monday," Mike answered, "So I'll be done just before you guys graduate on Friday."

"Oh, awesome!" Danny said enthusiastically, "So it really will be like you're graduating with us after all!"

"Which I'm _extremely_ thankful for," Violet added in as she wrapped her arms around Mike's, "Wouldn't wanna walk across that stage without you there."

Mike smiled down at his girlfriend at that remark, to which she reciprocated with a smile of her own.

Danny shook his head. "Oh, you two are just adorable," he teased.

"Shut up," was Mike's retort as he shot his best friend a look.

Before Danny could come back to that, the four friends were surprised when a knocking sound suddenly came from the other side of the trailer door, followed by a familiar voice calling out to them: "Hey, you guys in there?"

"Yeah, come on in," Mike answered.

The door now swung open to reveal Josiah, who had switched out his Dexterity High football blazer for an unbuttoned, blue collared shirt with rolled-up sleeves to wear over his white muscle shirt.

"What's happening, everyone?" he asked as he stepped up into the trailer.

"Well, for starters," Mike replied, "You know you don't have to knock to ask if you can come in, right? You're one of us now, after all."

"Heh..." Josiah rubbed the back of his head as the door closed behind him, "Sorry. Guess I'm still getting used to that."

"Hey, don't worry 'bout it," Danny told him, "I'm still gettin' used to it too. Part of me still wants to kick your ass."

"Danny!" Marina snapped as she shot him a glare.

"No, no, it's fine," Josiah quickly said before Marina's eyes started shooting actual daggers at her boyfriend, "I probably deserve that, anyway.

"But..." Josiah now took a seat in a chair near the couch Mike and Violet were sitting on, "I've actually got a little surprise for you all that might be able to help make up for it."

Danny sat up a little more in his seat now. "What kinda surprise are we talkin' about, here?"

"Well," Josiah said as he reached into his shirt's breast pocket, "I had some extra cash after working so many hours while I was out of school. So I used that cash..."

He now produced from his pocket five yellow, paper rectangles as he finished, "To get us all tickets to see a set of Pro Circuit matches, including a duel featuring _Liam Carson_ , LIVE at the stadium tonight!"

"GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE!" Danny practically leaped out of his seat, forcing Marina to think quick as she jumped off his lap to let him run up to Josiah, gawking at the tickets with wide eyes and a floored jaw. "YOU MEAN _THE_ LIAM CARSON? THE CYBER STYLE MASTER HIMSELF?!"

"Yep!" Josiah confirmed as Mike, Violet, and Marina now gathered around to see the tickets as well, "Just went and picked up the last few tickets they had over at the stadium!"

"How did we never even hear about this before?" Marina asked, "Don't these things have to be planned out way in advance?"

"Yeah, but the Pro Circuit also does instant-attraction events like this every now and then," Josiah explained as everybody each took their own ticket, "They announced this one earlier today to celebrate Liam's return from his Asia tour.

"And, since I still feel bad for all the crap I've put you all through over the years..." he continued with a sheepish grin, "I figured this was the least I could do to help start making things right with you guys."

"Oh, dude, all is _forgiven_..." Danny said as he sank to his knees, gazing upon the ticket in his hands as his eyes twinkled with pure happiness.

Violet, meanwhile, smiled as she looked from her ticket to Mike, saying, "Well, this should be fun, right Mike?"

But she was surprised by what met her gaze when she turned to him: Mike's face had turned into an expression that was graver than she'd ever seen on him before; as though a dark and heavy thought or memory that he would've preferred to _never_ remember had suddenly resurfaced in his mind.

"Mike...?" she repeated his name cautiously, "Hey, are you okay...?"

Everyone else's attention was now brought to Mike's alarmingly serious expression as well, at which time Mike finally shook his head as he averted his eyes from his friends. "Y-yeah..." he stammered, "Yeah, I'm... I'm fine. I just... remembered something important I have to take care of."

Violet immediately saw through his lie, but remained silent as her boyfriend then gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before saying, "I'll see you guys later tonight."

He then moved to pass by Danny, Marina, and Josiah before making his way down the concrete stairs, hastily made his way towards the city.

"What's gotten into him all of a sudden?" Marina said with raised eyebrows.

"Something I said, perhaps...?" Josiah asked with a frown.

"Nah, man, don't worry 'bout it," Danny assured him as he stood up again, "He's just had a lot on his mind since he's gotten back; so he needs some alone time every now and then."

"Yeah..." Violet spoke up, though her tone suggested that she didn't entirely believe what she was agreeing with.

Seeing the discomfort that the topic appeared to be causing Violet, Josiah tried changing the subject: "So hey, uh..."

Violet's eyes glanced over to him as he said, "I've been wondering about this for a while: I always knew you and Mike went way back as kids; and that you've always had feelings for each other for about that long, too. But I've never really known the reason why."

"Ooh, that's a great story!" Marina said fervently, "Go on and tell him, Violet!"

"Yeah, that _is_ a good story," Danny said between chuckles as he glanced at Josiah, "Since every time she's told it, Mike's face always turns red as a beet."

Everyone sat themselves down again as all eyes turned to Violet, who shifted uncomfortably as she clasped her hands together, feeling a slight rush of red coming to her face from having been put on the spot. "Um... okay, then..." she said somewhat nervously, "Well... obviously, you know how Mike spent the other half of his childhood in that orphanage after his parents died."

Josiah's face was attentive as Violet continued: "Back then, my dad used to take me over there after I got out of school. The nun who ran the orphanage usually let the kids out to play in their outdoor playground around that same time, and she used to let me play with Mike since he didn't really get along with the other kids there."

A small smile began to form on her face as her childhood memories started coming back to her. "I remember how I'd always pretend to be a princess, and Mike always pretended to be a knight..." she explained, "And every time I would be taken by some kind of villain or dragon, Mike would always come to my rescue."

The image of a younger Mike with a stick-sword in his hand flashed in her mind. "And I remember... even though that was all just fun and make-believe... being the little girl that I was, I had this crush on him for how he was always willing to save me from whatever imaginary danger he had to fight against.

"And, as we got older," Violet's smile continued to broaden as she felt the warmth return to her insides, "I watched him grow up to be the same brave, kind guy he always pretended to be when we were kids... he's always there for me, just like how I've always been there for him... and I couldn't help but eventually fall in love with him for it."

Marina brought a hand to rest over her heart as she let out a short "Aweee!" while Danny looked like he was suppressing a snickering fit. Josiah, meanwhile, only nodded as he took in Violet's words. "Huh... that's actually a pretty cute story," he said, "No wonder you two have always been so close."

"And no wonder why Mike's face turns into a beet whenever that story's told, right?" Danny said as he nudged Josiah in his side with his elbow.

"Oh shush, Danny," Marina shot at him, "At least Mike actually matured past the age of nine."

"Hey, I _am_ mature!" Danny countered as his temple throbbed at his girlfriend's jab.

Josiah just rubbed the back of his head as the pair squabbled, before turning back to Violet. "Anyway, sorry for putting you on the spot like that..." he said with an apologetic look.

"No, it's okay," she told him, "Actually... I'm kind of glad you did."

Danny and Marina's attentions once again returned to their friend as she explained, "It's just... Mike's been so much more introverted and distant ever since he's gotten back. He _still_ is, even with me... so my mind's had a little bit of trouble remembering that he's still the same guy I fell in love with all those years ago.

"But getting to tell that story again... really helped to remind me of that," she said with an appreciative smile, "So thanks, Josiah."

"Heh, don't mention it," he replied with a smile of his own.

* * *

Mike's hands were shoved deep in his pockets as he stalked along the empty city sidewalks.

His head was hung in a way that hid his eyes behind the curtain of his dirty-blond bangs, concealing his brooding expression that reflected the rapidly surging thoughts that were shooting through his mind:

 _'Liam Carson... the Romans... this can't be a coincidence...'_

 _'No... he left just before I'd taken HIM down...'_

 _'But the timing... it's just too perfect...'_

 _'He HAS to know something about what's going on... about Casey...'_

He came to a stop as he slammed his fist against the wall of the building next to him, growling with frustration. He couldn't tell whether or not his usually-calculated thoughts were being pervaded by the flustered emotions that had suddenly flared up within him in the trailer. He hated it when his feelings got in the way of his ability to think clearly; potentially blinding him to a truth he could barely make out a glimpse of.

But what he hated even more than that were the _memories_ that were instigating the emotions he was feeling right now: the intense anger and loathing towards the Cyber Style's heir that he thought had been laid to rest two years ago...

* * *

 ** _\- FLASHBACK -_**

An explosion erupted on the outskirts of Frontier Haven as Casey's last monster was destroyed at the hands of Mike's Infernity Destroyer, eliminating the last of her LP.

 **[Casey - LP: 0]**

 **[Winner: Mike]**

"Heh... that was a good win, Mike," Casey complimented as her revolver-duel disk collapsed back to its firearm shape on her wrist, while the Infernity Destroyer before Mike vanished as his own duel disk deactivated.

"You think so?" he said with a smirk as he began walking towards her.

"For sure," she answered as she placed a hand on her hip, "You've definitely come a long way since you started using that Infernity deck."

"Well, thanks..." Mike accepted the compliment as he stopped in front of her, "But I think you deserve some of the credit for that. I doubt I'd be as good as I am now if it weren't for you."

Casey cocked her head at him curiously. "What, you didn't learn anything from your training with Aeron before?" she asked.

"Well, maybe a _little_ bit," Mike admitted, "But I mean, him just kicking my ass over and over again never really made him the best mentor."

"What was that?"

Mike and Casey's heads both swiveled to see Aeron, who was approaching them from beneath the sign that spelled out Frontier Haven's name; his expression the usual, emotionless slate that it always was as his crimson eyes met Mike's with an inquisitive stare.

"Uh, I didn't—!" Mike's face paled as he internally struggled to come up with words to correct what Aeron might've heard, "I, um, I mean—!"

"Save it," Aeron cut him off, "I heard you the first time."

Mike's lips pursed as he exhaled through his nose defeatedly, while Casey couldn't help but giggle at Mike's slip-up.

Now Aeron's expression softened as he glanced to the distance. "I will admit, though; you've gained an incredible amount of strength since your duel with Keir," he commended, "You even exceeded my expectations for how well I thought you'd be able to wield that deck."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence..." Mike said as he crossed his arms, "Though speaking of, I don't get why you've still been pushing me to train so hard. I mean, the Romans haven't come anywhere near us since I took out Keir three months ago."

"Don't take three months of quietude as a sign that you can start taking it easy," Aeron snapped back as he turned to Mike again, "There are still plenty in the Romans' ranks who're too devious for their own good. For all we know, they could have already found some other asshole to lead them who's planning on continuing where Keir left off. We can't afford to let our guard down."

Mike couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Man, how do you even live being this paranoid?"

"Paranoid or not, he's not wrong."

The trio's heads all turned to look where the new voice had come from: walking towards them was a young, slender man who looked to be about nineteen years of age, with brown, neck-length hair and navy-colored eyes behind his rectangular spectacles. His attire consisted of a brown leather jacket over a white shirt, and his legs were clad in faded-black jeans, while his feet were adorned with brown sneakers. Like most everyone else, the same signature holster adorned his waist, which no doubt held his own revolver-duel disk. At full height, he stood at around 5'11".

Now, Mike, Aeron, and Casey eyed him curiously as he continued to approach, saying, "I mean, I just managed to walk in on your conversation without you even noticing. So perhaps your instincts need a bit more sharpening after all."

Mike's eye twitched irksomely at this comment. "And just who're you supposed to be?"

"His name is Liam Carson," Aeron answered as his eyes narrowed, earning glances of surprise from Mike and Casey, "One of the Romans."

" _Ex_ -Roman, actually," Liam corrected him with innocently-raised hands, "As it happens, I defected from them so that I could join you guys here in Frontier Haven instead.

"So if you wouldn't mind, Aeron Mortimer," he said as his eyes flicked to the latter's side, "I'd appreciate it if you would stop hovering your hand so threateningly over your duel disk like that."

Mike and Casey's gazes turned to Aeron, who was silent for a moment before letting out a grunt as his right shoulder seemed to lower, indicating that he had, indeed, been holding his hand over his multi-functional weapon beneath his red cape.

Liam now lowered his hands to his sides again as Aeron's crimson orbs continued to stare at him cautiously. "So you defected from the Romans to join us," he stated, "Why?"

"For the same reason a number of other Romans did, I reckon," Liam replied matter-of-factly, "We saw a chance to get the hell out of Saddleburry, and we took it."

The three continued to stare at Liam for a moment, indicating to him that they needed further explanation: "See, Keir was not, by any means, a fan of insubordination while he was alive. Anybody who stepped out of line, or wanted to call it quits working for him, he would kill without hesitation."

"So that's why Samael spent all these years adhering to Keir's rules..." Casey guessed.

"That's right," Liam confirmed, "He knew Keir would make good on his threat to flatten Frontier Haven, and everyone in it, if he didn't follow along with his grand scheme. But, now that he's gone, anyone who ever wanted out of his regime has been able to leave without a hitch; myself included."

"Makes sense," Mike said as his arms unfolded, "But if you were finally able to leave, why did you decide to come here, of all places?"

"Well, actually..." Liam's gaze turned exclusively to Mike now, "The reason for that is because I wanted to meet _you_."

Mike's eyes widened. "Me...?" he repeated with incredulity, "Why...?"

"Because you're the one who defeated Keir," Liam answered, as though his answer should have been obvious, "To think, a war spanning nearly twenty-six years between him and Samael... all suddenly brought to an end by a newcomer who was clearly out of his depth."

"Tch," Mike's gaze turned into a slight glare as one of his fists balled. "So what, you think I'm just some pushover who managed to get lucky?"

"Well, that's what I came here to find out," Liam said as he set a hand on his revolver-duel disk, "That is, if you wouldn't mind honoring me with a duel. Right now."

There was a tense silence as the two's gazes seemed to lock onto each other in that moment; as though the spirits of two warring kings had suddenly come to possess the both of them, sparking an instinct within themselves that they hadn't known existed.

Eventually, Mike broke the silence: "Alright, fine," he said, "If it's a duel you want, then it's a duel you'll get!"

"Excellent," Liam said as a small smile spread across his lips, "Then let's not waste any time, shall we?"

The both of them turned and began walking away from each other, creating a space of about ten feet between each other for their duel. But as Mike paced steadily towards his position, he found that his mind couldn't help but linger on Liam's last name: something in the back of his mind told him that he should've known the name "Carson" from somewhere, but for the life of him, he just couldn't recall why...

Meanwhile, Casey moved to stand closer to Aeron on the sidelines, where they both watched as Mike walked to his position to their left, while Liam approached his position to their right.

"Hey, Aeron..." she spoke up as a concerned frown adorned her lips, "I don't think I've ever seen this Liam guy duel before... have you?"

"No," Aeron replied grimly, earning a glance from Casey as his gaze remained fixed on the ex-Roman, "I only know his name because he delivered a message from Keir to Samael once a few years back."

"I see..." Casey uttered as her gaze returned back to Mike and Liam, who were finally set in their spots for their duel.

"Now, don't hold anything back, Mike!" Liam called out as he took his duel disk from his holster, before arming his wrist with it, "I want to see everything you've got!"

"Not in my nature to hold back anyway!" was Mike's reply as he did the same with his own duel disk, which was followed by the both of them activating simultaneously as the monster, spell, and trap zones folded out from the bases of the devices.

And with no time wasted, they both drew their first five cards before crying out, "LET'S DUEL!"

 ** _\- FLASHBACK END -_**

* * *

The night air was only mildly chilly as Violet, Danny, Marina, and Josiah stood at the back of one of the many long lines of people outside of the rounded structure that was County Dame Stadium.

As the four friends awaited their admittance into the venue, Danny couldn't keep himself from bouncing on his feels in an antsy manner as he watched the time on his phone turn to 6 PM. "Man, where the hell is Mike?" he asked with annoyance, "They're gonna open those doors up at any minute!"

"I'm sure he'll be here soon," Josiah tried to convince him, "Just be patient."

"Yeah, see, that's not really one of my strong-suits..." Danny admitted as he ceased his consistent bouncing.

Meanwhile, Marina now glanced over to Violet, who looked as though her mind was off on another planet as she stared vacantly into space. "Hey, you alright?" she asked with a tap on her shoulder.

Violet snapped back to reality as she gave a short nod to her best friend. "Yeah," she answered softly, "Just hoping that Mike's alright..."

Marina nodded in reply before her eyes suddenly flickered upwards; and a small smile came to her face as she pointed to where she was looking, saying, "Hey, there he is!"

All heads turned to where her finger was indicating: there was Mike, calmly striding towards them with his hands in his pockets, looking a bit more relaxed now compared to when they'd last seen him.

"There you are!" Danny exclaimed as Mike finally caught up to them, "I was starting to worry that you weren't gonna show up!"

"Everything good with you, dude?" Josiah asked him.

"Yeah, no worries," Mike said as he forced a smile to his face, "I'm just sorry I kept you guys waiting."

Danny shook his head. "Well, just don't make a habit out of it, alright?" he said as he playfully punched Mike's shoulder.

Josiah, meanwhile, turned to check the status of the line behind him. "Hey guys, the line's started moving," he let them know.

"Well, then what're we waiting for?" Danny exclaimed enthusiastically, "Let's get a move on!"

With that, he, Marina, and Josiah began making their way to join up with the rest of the line that was steadily entering the County Dame Stadium. Mike also started to follow suit, but came to a stop when he felt Violet's hand grasp his shoulder as she said, "Mike, hang on for a sec."

He raised a confused eyebrow as he turned to meet her eyes. "What is it?" he inquired.

"Just... are you _sure_ you're okay?" she asked with genuine worry in her tone, "Like, _actually_ okay?"

Now Mike's expression fell. "This is about how I walked out on you guys earlier, isn't it?" he questioned back.

Violet nodded as she explained, "I just want to make sure you know that you can talk to me if you need to... I don't want you to feel like you'd be burdening me if you did."

Mike shook his head as he placed his hands on Violet's shoulders. "Never," he assured her, "You've always been there for me, even when we were kids. It's one of the things I've always loved about you."

A small smile came to Violet's lips at these words, before Mike continued: "Look, I know I haven't been very open when it comes to talking about what happened to me while I was gone... and the reason for that is, well... because there's still some stuff I _haven't_ told you that I'm just not ready to open up about yet.

"But as soon as I _am_ ready," he said, looking deeply into her eyes now as he did so, "You'll be the first one to know, alright?"

Violet stared back into his eyes with just as intense of a look as she said, "You promise?"

"Promise," Mike returned before planting a short kiss on her lips, completely erasing what worry was left on her face as her smile broadened when he pulled away.

"Now c'mon, let's get inside," he said with a smile of his own, "The others are gonna beat us to our seats."

"Right," Violet agreed, before they began walking towards the Stadium as their friends had.

* * *

They managed to catch up with the others just as they reached the main event space of the stadium: surrounding the steel-floored arena in the center of the grandiose setting were an uncounted amount of red, cushioned seats. On the arena's main floor, a number of television cameras and other such equipment were stationed close to the farthest opposite sides, where there were openings that the competitors entered through. Aligned along the massive ceiling were a great number of floodlights, and protruding from the center ceiling was a set of four monitors all facing different directions. Along the higher walls were a few other scattered light rigs and monitors, save for one space concealed behind tinted glass that had to be where the commentators, executives, and other tech people must have been stationed.

The five friends easily found the seats that were labeled on their tickets, which were along one of the furthest walls from the arena itself. Josiah took the furthermost seat into the section, followed by Marina, Danny, Violet, and lastly Mike, who sat in the seat at the edge of the row.

"Wow, even so far back, these seats are freaking awesome!" Danny said as he gawked at the arena below them with awe.

"Well, I'm glad you like them," Josiah said with a sense of relief, "Given they were the last available seats that I barely managed to snag."

"You kidding? We can see everything in the arena from here!" Danny maintained his optimism, barely able to contain his excitement at this point.

"Danny, would you quit bouncing in the seat?" Marina said as she pushed a hand down on one of her boyfriend's legs in an effort to steady him, "You're gonna break it like that!"

Josiah could feel a sweat drop falling down the back of his head as he watched Marina try to calm her boyfriend down. On their opposite side, Mike and Violet couldn't help but laugh at their friends' expenses before, suddenly, all the lights in the arena blacked out, and an epic fanfare soundtrack began to play.

 **"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!"** a male voice echoed through the entirety of the arena as the scattered monitors flickered to life, **"TONIGHT, WE HERE AT COUNTY DAME STADIUM ARE PROUD TO PRESENT TONIGHT'S DUEL MONSTERS PRO CIRCUIT EVENT!"**

The stadium burst into thunderous cheers while the announcer continued: **"TONIGHT'S MAIN MATCH BETWEEN OUR HOMECOMING CHAMPION AND HIS CHALLENGER WILL BE STARTING SHORTLY! SO FOR THE FOLKS WHO'RE WATCHING AT HOME, BE SURE TO STAY TUNED!"**

"Wow, kicking it off with the main event already?" Marina wondered with raised eyebrows.

"Hell yeah!" Danny replied excitedly, "Gotta get the crowd all riled up right from the start! Plus, everyone's itching to see Liam in person!"

Just then, two spotlights suddenly shone down before the two entryways down in the arena as the MC's voice returned to the speakers: **"AND IT'S FINALLY TIME! I PRESENT TO YOU OUR TWO COMPETITORS OF THE EVENING'S MAIN MATCH!**

 **"FIRST UP, OUR CHAMPION'S CHALLENGER HAILS ALL THE WAY FROM NEW ZEALAND!"** he commentated as a thick smoke cloud erupted in front of one of the arena entryways, **"HE'S BEEN SAID TO PACK A FEARSOME AMOUNT OF FIREPOWER, AND MANY OPPONENTS HAVE MET QUICK ENDS TO HIS MASTERFUL MARKSMANSHIP! PLEASE JOIN ME IN WELCOMING THE GUNNER FROM DOWN UNDER, GAVIN BRADSHAW!"**

Emerging from the smoke cloud was a muscled man with black, spiky hair, and a chinstrap beard of matching color beneath his confident grin. His choice of clothing was a military-style jacket over a black shirt, and a ball chain necklace with a number of dog tags on it. Black camouflage pants adorned his legs, which matched the dark combat boots that fitted his feet. His left wrist was armed with a black and faded-green duel disk. The man stood at about 6'3".

"Whoa, he's scary-looking," Marina commented over the applause of the crowd as Gavin glanced around intently at his surroundings.

"Yeah, and just as powerful," Josiah added, "I heard that he topped his country's national tournament last year."

"He did," Mike confirmed, his gaze fixated on the entrance opposite of the kiwi duelist, "But that power of his won't save him from what he's about to face..."

The others all glanced to Mike with surprised expressions, before their attentions were stolen away again as another smoke cloud erupted on the opposite end of the arena.

 **"AND NOW, LADIES AND GENTLEMAN!"** the MC's voice echoed once more, **"HE'S JUST RETURNED HOME AFTER HAVING ADDED TO HIS UNDEFEATED RECORD AGAINST OPPONENTS ALL ACROSS CHINA, JAPAN, THAILAND, AND INDIA!"**

Crazed cheers and chants were bursting from the crowd as the MC cried out, **"COUNTY DAME, PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FOR YOUR CHAMPION AND MINE: THE ONE AND ONLY MASTER OF THE CYBER STYLE, LIAM CARSON!"**

From the smoke stepped out a slender, young man with short brown hair, and bangs swept to his right. The blue eyes behind his glasses emanated an almost unnerving sense of calm as he stared at his opponent across the arena. His choice of attire was a brown blazer with pushed up sleeves over a white V-neck shirt, as well as dark jeans and brown shoes. His left wrist also harbored a duel disk; one of a silver and gold design.

The entire stadium lost its mind as the crowd let out fierce cheers at the sight of their reigning champion, which Danny contributed to as he vigorously screamed "LIAM! I LOVE YOU!" at the top of his lungs, which earned him a questioning glance from Marina.

Violet, meanwhile, now took a moment to glance at her own boyfriend: while his expression wasn't nearly as dark as it had been in the trailer, it had definitely shifted again into a hard glare, aimed at Liam Carson way down below them.

Her eyes then widened as she suddenly remembered what seemed to have set Mike off earlier: his expression had turned grim _after_ Liam had been brought up when Josiah had brought them all their tickets; and _now_ he was glowering down at the Cyber Style master as he stood before his eyes.

A worrisome frown now spread across Violet's face as she thought, _'What kind of grudge could Mike possibly have against this guy...?'_

* * *

As Liam took his position on his side of the arena, Gavin took a moment to look him up and down. "So you're the famous Liam Carson that I've heard so much about..." he said dismissively through a mild accent, "You don't look nearly as intimidating as I thought you would."

"Sounds like someone didn't do their homework on me," Liam replied coolly, "That's going to cost you this duel."

Gavin's eyes narrowed as the MC intervened: **"AND THE TRASH-TALK HAS ALREADY BEGUN! SO I'D SAY IT'S TIME FOR OUR COMPETITORS TO GET ON WITH WHAT WE'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!"**

With that, Liam and Gavin both lifted their left arms, triggering the activation of their duel disks as they each drew their first five cards before simultaneously crying out, "LET'S DUEL!"

 **[Liam - LP: 8000]**

 **[Gavin - LP: 8000]**

As the entirety of the crowd burst into massive cheers again, Gavin placed a hand to his deck as he said, "Since I'm the guest here, I think I'll take the first move."

"Be my guest," Liam invited, "You'll need the head-start anyway."

"Tch..." Gavin clicked his tongue as he drew his first card, "I'll kick things off by summoning my Spell Reactor · RE!"

 **[Spell Reactor · RE - LV: 3/ATK: 1200]**

"And then, I'll finish by setting two cards face down," Gavin concluded, "And that'll do for this turn."

"Very well," Liam said as he drew.

A small smile appeared on his face as he saw what card he'd just drawn. "I'll first activate my Polymerization spell card!" he started, "And with it, I merge the two Cyber Dragons in my hand!"

Two silver, mechanical dragons appeared on Liam's field, only to immediately be absorbed into a purple, swirling portal; from which then emerged a larger, two-headed version of its materials as Liam cried out, "I Fusion summon my Cyber Twin Dragon!"

 **[Cyber Twin Dragon - LV: 8/ATK: 2800]**

 **"AMAZING!"** the MC's voice echoed out once again, **"IN JUST HIS FIRST MOVE, OUR CHAMPION HAS ALREADY SUMMONED OUT ONE OF HIS BIGGEST POWERHOUSE MONSTERS!"**

But Gavin's expression remained collected as a small smirk spread across his lips. "Not a bad opening move; but I'm afraid you opened yourself up to my Spell Reactor's effect! While it may not be able to negate your Polymerization, it has the ability to destroy your spell card while it's on the field, and hit you with 800 points of damage!"

From the Spell Reactor's underbelly launched a number of small missiles that shot at Liam's spell card, which exploded upon contact as Liam's LP fell.

 **[Liam - LP: 7200]**

"Heh... so you were able to draw first blood..." Liam mused, "But I'm afraid that's hardly a scratch compared to what I'm about to do to _you_."

Gavin's expression remained calm in the face of this threat as Liam then pointed towards the Reactor monster opposing him. "Cyber Twin Dragon!" he declared, "Take out his Spell Reactor · RE!"

The two-headed dragon's jaws opened to unleash a set of two streams of energy, both of which headed straight for the small Reactor monster. But just before the attack could connect, a premature explosion erupted before Gavin's machine, diffusing the energy blasts that Cyber Twin Dragon had given off.

"What's this...?" Liam pondered with a raised eyebrow.

"Sorry Liam, but you walked right into my Fake Explosion trap card!" Gavin explained as one of his set cards flipped, "While I still take the damage from your dragon's attack—"

 **[Gavin - LP: 6400]**

"—my trap not only keeps my Spell Reactor · RE from being destroyed, but it also special summons my Summon Reactor · SK from my hand!"

 **[Summon Reactor · SK - LV: 5/ATK: 2000]**

"I see..." Liam noted as he eyed the new machine that had appeared on Gavin's field, "But I'm afraid your Spell Reactor still isn't safe, given my Cyber Twin Dragon can attack _twice_ during each battle phase!"

Gavin could only grit his teeth as Liam exclaimed, "Now finish what you started, Cyber Twin Dragon!"

The dragon's jaws once again shot twin bursts of energy at Gavin's smaller monster, finally destroying it as Gavin's LP took another hit.

 **[Gavin - LP: 4800]**

"Lastly, I'll throw three cards face down," Liam concluded as the set cards materialized, "And that ends my turn."

* * *

"Geez, Liam's not holding anything back against this guy..." Marina said with wide eyes.

"Yeah, no kidding," Danny agreed, "And this Gavin guy's barely been able to hold a candle to him so far!"

"Guess that's what you get when you pit a duelist from a prep school against someone from one of the Dueling Legacy families..." Josiah figured.

* * *

"It's my move, now!" Gavin said as he drew next, "And I'll begin by summoning out my Trap Reactor · Y FI!"

 **[Trap Reactor · Y FI - LV: 4/ATK: 800]**

"Then, I'll activate the spell card known as Iron Call!" Gavin continued, "So long as I control a machine-type monster on my field, I can special summon a LV 4 or lower monster back from the graveyard—like my Spell Reactor · RE!"

 **[Spell Reactor · RE - LV: 3/ATK: 1200]**

"And now's where the fun begins!" Gavin said as all of his monsters then rose into the air, "With these three monsters on my field, I'll activate my Summon Reactor's effect to release them all for something even _more_ powerful!"

The three monsters now turned into orbs of light, which then merged together to create a gigantic portal. Then, from within its light, a colossal bomber jet of a monster emerged onto Gavin's field; its engines so loud that they almost drowned out Gavin's voice as he cried out, "Come forth! Flying Fortress SKY FIRE!"

 **[Flying Fortress SKY FIRE - LV: 8/ATK: 3000]**

 **"WHAT A SIGHT!"** the MC hollered out, **"AFTER HAVING TAKEN A BRUTAL ONSLAUGHT LAST TURN, GAVIN HAS MANAGED TO TURN THINGS BACK IN HIS FAVOR BY SUMMONING ONE OF THE MOST MASSIVE MONSTERS I'VE EVER SEEN!"**

But even so, Liam remained unfazed as he looked up at the towering metal monster looming over him. "So this is your ace card..." he figured, "I have to admit, it's actually quite the impressive-looking piece of artillery."

"If you're impressed with how it looks, just wait 'til you get a load of its effect!" Gavin shot back, "By sending one card from my hand to the graveyard, my SKY FIRE can destroy any card on my opponent's field!

"So get to work on eliminating that Cyber Twin Dragon!" Gavin exclaimed as he placed a card in his graveyard, prompting his Fortress to aim its massive turret guns towards Liam's multi-headed monster.

"Don't think so!" Liam countered as he flipped one of his set cards, "I reveal my quick-play spell: De-Fusion! By returning my Twin Dragon to my extra deck, I can split it back into the two fusion material monsters I used to create it!"

Cyber Twin Dragon morphed itself into an orb of light, which then split itself into two just as Gavin's SKY FIRE launched a barrage of bullets; all of which missed their target and landed just between the two orbs, which then morphed back into a pair of Cyber Dragons.

 **[Cyber Dragon - LV: 5/ATK: 2100]**

 **[Cyber Dragon - LV: 5/ATK: 2100]**

"Tch..." Gavin uttered with disdain, "So you managed to avoid my SKY FIRE's effect. But I guarantee that you won't be so lucky against his attack!

"Go, SKY FIRE!" Gavin commanded, "Eliminate one of those Cyber Dragons!"

The Fortress reached an arm out towards one of the monsters on Liam's field, its metal claws expanding as it prepared to take hold of its prey.

"Not so fast!" Liam countered, "I reveal my Cybernetic Hidden Technology continuous trap! By offering up one of my Cyber Dragons when you declare an attack, this card destroys your attacking monster!"

"That's where you're wrong!" Gavin retorted as his last set card flipped as well, "I chain my counter trap: Dark Bribe! This card negates your trap's activation, and destroys it!"

The trap on Liam's field crackled with electricity for a moment before fading into nothingness, leaving Liam helpless as he watched SKY FIRE's claws grasp one of his Cyber Dragons, which writhed momentarily before being crushed into pieces.

 **[Liam - LP: 6300]**

"But don't look so disappointed!" Gavin continued, gaining Liam's attention back, "My Dark Bribe's second effect allows you to draw one extra card!"

"Subtle naming convention there..." Liam muttered as he made his draw.

Now, Gavin looked down to the remaining trap card in his hand. _'Gravity Bind...'_ he thought to himself, _'I usually use this card to keep opponents' attacks at bay while I'm setting up my Reactors for SKY FIRE.'_

His eyes rose to look up at his opponent again. _'But that Cyber Twin Dragon was a real pain in the ass, and I've a feeling he's probably planning on summoning out something even bigger to take on my SKY FIRE. And if that's the case, my best bet is to use this card and my SKY FIRE's other effect against it.'_

"I'll set one more card face down," Gavin concluded as a cunning smirk came to his face, "And that'll do for this turn."

* * *

 **"SUCH A STUNNING DISPLAY OF SKILL FROM BOTH GAVIN AND OUR REIGNING CHAMPION!"** the MC cried out enthusiastically, **"I'M AT THE EDGE OF MY SEAT WANTING TO SEE WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT!"**

"So am I!" Danny cheered as he started bouncing in his seat again, "COME ON, LIAM!"

"Dude, seriously, quit abusing the chair," Josiah said to him with a concerned glance.

As he and Marina once again tried to settle Danny's agitation, Violet found herself unable to quell her own inner turmoil as she looked to Mike once again: his glaring gaze hadn't shifted in the slightest from its lock on Liam, and his fists were now balled so tightly that they were even shaking slightly.

"Mike...?" she tried to get his attention, but he didn't seem to even notice her voice as his gaze remained solidly fixed on the Cyber Style master...

* * *

"It's my turn!" Liam said as he drew his next card, which he smiled at upon seeing what it was.

"I should thank you, Gavin," he told his opponent, "That extra draw you gave me was just what I needed to defeat you."

Gavin's eyebrows rose at this remark as Liam went on: "I'll start by summoning my Cyber Dragon Drei!"

 **[Cyber Dragon Drei - LV: 4/ATK: 1800]**

"And in case you didn't know, my Drei has the ability to treat itself as a regular 'Cyber Dragon' while it's on the field!" he continued, "And, with its other effect, as soon as it's normal summoned, it automatically turns all 'Cyber Dragons' on my side of the field into LV 5 monsters!"

Gavin's smirk only widened as he then retaliated: "Actually, my SKY FIRE's other effect begs to differ! With it, I can automatically destroy any one monster that you summon during your turn!"

The Flying Fortress's turret guns turned once more, adjusting their aim to the Cyber Dragon Drei on Liam's field.

"Not gonna happen!" Liam now countered as he flipped his last set card, "I reveal my Safe Zone trap! This card creates a defensive shield that'll keep my Drei from being targeted or destroyed!"

Flying Fortress let loose every last bullet it had on Liam's Drei, only to have every last bullet deflect off of the dragon's surface.

Gavin growled infuriatingly as Liam then continued: "Now, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, my Cyber Dragon Drei's LV now raises up to 5!"

 **[Cyber Dragon Drei - LV: 5]**

"Grrr... well, let's see if THIS will stop you!" Gavin bellowed as he flipped his last set card, "I activate my Gravity Bind continuous trap! So long as this card remains on my field, all monsters with LVs that are 4 or higher aren't allowed to attack! Now you have _no way_ to take a shot at my SKY FIRE!"

"... and now you've all but guaranteed my victory."

Surprise took over Gavin's face. "What's that supposed to mean?!" he shot back.

"It's like I said before," Liam explained, "You didn't do your homework on me like you should have. But _I_ did my homework on you; and I know how you like to prevent your opponents from hitting your monsters to set up for your SKY FIRE. Gravity Bind is a pretty solid card for the job, but it's only effective against monsters that have _levels_.

"But the monster that I plan on taking you down with..." Liam said with a small smirk, " _Doesn't_ have any levels."

Gavin's eyes widened as Liam then continued: "I'll now overlay my two LV 5 monsters: Cyber Dragon and Cyber Dragon Drei!"

The two mechanical dragons were absorbed into a spatial portal, from which then emerged a black and silver beast of a machine with large wings as Liam cried out, "By building the overlay network, I Xyz summon the instrument of your destruction: Cyber Dragon Nova!"

 **[Cyber Dragon Nova - RK: 5/ATK: 2100]**

 **"AND IT'S FINALLY HERE!"** the MC said as the crowd started to stir with a few scattered cheers and cries, **"OUR CHAMPION'S ACE MONSTER HAS MADE ITS APPEARANCE ON THE FIELD, AND IT LOOKS LIKE HE'S READY TO PUT AN END TO THIS DUEL WITH IT!"**

* * *

"An Xyz monster..." Josiah muttered, "Since they have RKs instead of LVs..."

"Then Gravity Bind has no effect on it, meaning he'll able to attack with it!" Danny finished ecstatically, "Of course!"

* * *

"Now, I'll activate my Nova's first effect!" Liam went on, "By detaching one of its overlay units, I can resurrect a Cyber Dragon that's sleeping in my graveyard!"

 **[Cyber Dragon - LV: 5/ATK: 2100]**

"Then, with its second effect, by _banishing_ the Cyber Dragon I just revived—" he explained as the dragon faded away as quickly as it had reappeared, "—my Nova gains _another_ 2100 ATK points!"

 **[Cyber Dragon Nova - ATK: 4200]**

"But that's still not enough!" Gavin reminded him, "If you attacked my SKY FIRE now, you'd only manage to hit me with 1200 points of damage!"

"That's true," Liam said as he held up his last card, "Which is why I'll now thank you again for putting this card in my hand with your Dark Bribe's effect: Limiter Removal!"

"L-Limiter Removal?!" Gavin repeated as the crowd's cheers became more intense, "But, then that means...!"

"That my Nova's ATK strength is doubled _again_ ," Liam confirmed with a smirk, "Making its ATK power more than enough to annihilate your SKY FIRE _and_ your remaining 4800 LP with just one attack!"

 **[Cyber Dragon Nova - ATK: 8400]**

"Now let's finish this!" Liam cried out as he pointed to Gavin's ace monster, "Cyber Dragon Nova, attack his Flying Fortress SKY FIRE, and end this duel!"

The Xyz machine shot a flash of blinding energy from its jaw through the center of the behemoth on Gavin's field, which then began falling from the sky above its master's field, the sound of its malfunctioning interior like a groan of intense pain. Gavin could only cry out helplessly as he watched his most powerful creature collapse on top of him, creating an explosion which engulfed half of the arena in smoke as the match was finally decided.

 **[Gavin - LP: 0]**

 **[Winner: Liam]**

 **"AND IT'S OVER!"** the MC proclaimed as the images of the monsters and cards disappeared from the arena floor, and the cheers in the arena reached their highest level of intensity yet, **"OUR REIGNING CHAMPION HAS PREVAILED ONCE AGAIN! EVERYBODY GIVE IT UP FOR LIAM CARSON!"**

* * *

"HELL YES!" Danny repeatedly shouted amidst the cheers as he and the others all stood to clap and cheer along with the rest of the crowd.

"That was _awesome_!" Josiah exclaimed.

"Now, how long do you think it'll take for you to start dueling that well, Danny?" Marina teased her boyfriend, which only earned her a stink-eye from him.

Meanwhile, Violet now turned to glance at Mike once more, but she was ultimately surprised when she saw there was _nothing_ occupying the space she had previously known him to be in.

She started to panic internally as her head swiveled frantically to try and locate where he'd gone. Eventually, she spotted him as he made his way towards one of the nearby exits of the venue.

"Guys!" she called for her friends' attention over the loudness of the crowd as she pointed to where Mike was.

Everybody's eyes quickly turned to see what Violet was indicating just as Mike slipped through the exitway, vanishing from their view.

The friends all exchanged troubled expressions before they proceeded to chase after him. However, little did any of them realize that, from down below on the arena floor, the periphery of the Cyber Style master's gaze was _also_ fixed on the same exit that he'd seen their friend disappear through...

* * *

Mike stumbled down the marble steps that lead to the Stadium's parking lot, breathing heavily as he leaned against one of the lampposts that illuminated the concrete space.

Despite his best efforts to keep himself together, the time that he'd spent watching Liam's duel had only eroded his ability to suppress his tumultuous emotions; so much so that it had reached the point that he couldn't even bear being in the same area as him any longer. It was too much for him to bear: watching the man that he believed was connected to the new group of Romans that was holding _her_ hostage...

"Hey, Mike! Wait up!"

Mike turned his head to watch as his friends rushed up to him. "Dude, what're you doing out here?" Josiah was the first one to ask, "Are you sure you're really okay?"

"Just... needed to get some air for a bit," Mike insisted as he avoided his friend's eyes, "Little too crowded in there for me."

"Man, it's pretty obvious that's not what's up with you at this point," Danny retorted.

Mike turned slightly so that he could see his friends' concerned faces, while Violet now stepped up to put a gentle hand to his arm. "Mike, seriously... you don't need to hide your problems from us. Can't you see that we _want_ to help you?"

Mike only stared back into Violet's eyes for a moment, before shaking his head as he turned away again. "I'm sorry..." he said, "But this isn't something you guys can help me with."

Pain filled Violet's eyes as she looked to Mike, as it did to the eyes of Danny, Marina, and Josiah before a voice suddenly echoed out from above them: "Well, this certainly isn't how I imagined our next meeting would happen."

Everyone's heads jerked to look up to the top of the steps: there stood Liam Carson, observing the five gathered friends with pocketed hands and a casual grin on his face.

Danny, Marina, Violet, and Josiah's eyes went wide with shock, but as Mike turned to look up to the Cyber Style master above them, his eyes narrowed to slits as he lividly uttered, "Liam..."

The Cyber Style duelist then began to descend the stairs, pacing steadily towards them as he said, "It really has been quite a while... hasn't it, Mike?"

* * *

 **Next Time**

 **Chapter 13: "Scars"**

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

 _Yo, everybody! Sorry it took a bit to get this next installment out. I just wrapped up my last quarter to earn my Associate Degree, so... pat on the back for me, I guess? xD I dunno, I'm just glad I finally got it. ^^_

 _Anyway, so I didn't get to say much about the last chapter 'cause of the QnA PANEL! and the shoutouts (always mandatory). So I'll say this here: DAMN, that was a freaking difficult and emotional chapter to write, man. ;-; Between getting Josiah's new and improved character out there, and FINALLY getting the Mike-Violet and Danny-Marina relationships going... oy, that was a lot to pull off in just one chapter. I say it again; I don't know how I ever thought I'd be able to put some of these events out as whole individual chapters._ 0.0  
 _And now THIS chapter... LOTS of new exposition AND the introduction of our Cyber Style master mentioned in Chapter 4, who I know Assassinkai742's been looking forward to meeting... seriously, guys; sh*t's about to get REAL. o_o_

 _As always, gotta credit and thank Master Of Anime224 for beta'ing. My work wouldn't be nearly as nice as it is without his critical eye and input. ^^ And thanks also to onebadasswarrior77 for providing a little extra beta help near the end. :3_

 _Also, gotta send big thanks to both Master Of Anime and Assassinkai for submitting to me two excellent Pro Duelist OCs in my A/N Update Special Event: Samantha Delaney and Slade Maxwell! They were both so awesome that I decided to mention them BOTH in this chapter, and I plan on giving each of them a little "screen time" in this series at some point. xD_

 _Now, before we wrap up… I've got another new thing I'm gonna start doing: deriving inspiration from my QnA panel, and after receiving the blessing to do so from the great OPFan37 (not his idea, but I got it from him, so...), I've decided that, at the end of each chapter, I'm gonna have a little something called..._

 ** _THE CHAPTERLY QUESTION!  
_** _(Yes, I know it's not a real word. Bear with me. xP)_

 _So starting with this chapter, I'm gonna have a question for YOU to answer for ME in your reviews or via PM. I'm trying to build my interaction with my audience a little bit more (perhaps with you guys who don't review as often), as well as improve the quality of the writing and the story for everybody, and maybe even have a little more fun with y'all in the long run. ^^  
That said, I'll not waste any more time and ask it: _**_Up to this point, what has been your FAVORITE moment in Mark of Death so far, and why?_**

 _And now, with all that said and done, I think I'ma sign off now and go figure out what I'm gonna do with my life next._ o.o

 _Thanks for reading everybody; and as always, stay awesome._

* * *

 **Recommended Works**

 ** _Yu-Gi-Oh! Remnant of the Dragons_** **, by silvernet** _\- Enter Tsukimiya Tsuren, a 15-year-old whose deck wields an incredible darkness. After being forced to transfer to Reginald Academy—an elite dueling school—by order of the Japanese government, he embarks on a quest to unravel the mystery behind his transference. But as he and his new allies pursue the truth, they unexpectedly find themselves face-to-face with a new enemy with unfathomable power..._

* * *

 ** _\- Last Revised: Sep. 26, 2017 -_**


	13. Scars

**Yu-Gi-Oh! Mark of Death**

 **Chapter 13: "Scars"**

 **Opening Theme: "Raining" by Art Of Dying**

 **Ending Theme: "Behind Blue Eyes" by Limp Bizkit**

* * *

"It really has been quite a while..." Liam said, stepping down the marble stairs towards the group of friends, "Hasn't it, Mike?"

Mike was silent as he glared up at the approaching Cyber Style master. Behind him, Violet, Danny, Marina, and Josiah could only watch on with bewildered expressions, struggling to process just what was happening. Danny practically had to pick up his jaw from where it had fallen on the ground before muttering in Mike's ear, "Dude, you actually _know_ Liam Carson? Since freakin' when?!"

But Mike ignored Danny's question as he continued to watch Liam, who finally came to a stop at the bottom of the stairway. "I'm glad to see you made it out of Frontier Haven in one piece," he casually said, "I was almost worried that we'd never get to settle our score."

The four friends' expressions lit up with even more surprise as the Cyber Style master's gaze traveled to them. "I take it you're all his friends?" he addressed them, "A pleasure to make all your acquaintances. I'd introduce myself, but I've a feeling that's not really necessary."

Amongst the group, Danny usually would've been the first to respond ecstatically to his favorite Pro duelist acknowledging his existence. But the revelation of his best friend's apparent history with Liam in Frontier Haven had left him, for the first time, at a complete loss for words.

Violet, on the other hand, could feel her gut twisting uncomfortably as her mind raced to put the pieces together. Not only had this all but confirmed her suspicions about Mike having something against the Cyber Style master, but now she couldn't stop herself from wondering just what kind of history Mike could've had with him in Frontier Haven...

"Liam."

Everyone's attention now turned to Mike when he finally spoke up again, his glaring eyes burning into Liam's as he uttered: "What have you done?"

Liam's eyebrows rose at the sudden accusation. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."

"Like hell you don't," Mike snapped back, "I know you had something to do with _it_."

"To do with _what_ , exactly?"

"The Romans. They're back."

Surprise spread across Liam's face. "The Romans...?" he repeated with disbelief, "I was under the impression that you'd put the last of them down after I'd left."

"I thought I had," Mike confirmed, "But I recently found out that they know I'm still alive— _and_ that they've taken someone I care about."

Those words hit Violet like a sharp jab to her stomach. So this was about Mike's missing friend that Aeron had told them about after all... the _girl_ that Mike had met out in Frontier Haven...

Now Liam's face turned grim as he looked back at Mike with hardened eyes. "If you're thinking I had some sort of a hand in that, I'm afraid you're mistaken," he stated firmly, "I cut my ties with the Romans for good after I left."

"Yeah... and I remember you saying the same exact thing before you tried to _kill_ me," Mike shot back, "So sorry if I find it a little hard to take you at your word."

It didn't seem possible for any more shock to spread across the faces of the four friends behind Mike. Liam, meanwhile, only stood in silence for a moment as he coolly stared through the fiery rage burning in Mike's eyes.

"Believe me Mike, I wish I could help you," he said with earnest, "But I really don't know anything about the Romans' return, or your missing friend, and that's the truth."

Mike's body shook as he and Liam continued to exchange hard glares. Behind him, the others could feel a rising tension in the air between the two duelists, reaching a height that made all of the intense stare-downs between Mike and Josiah over the years seem to pale in comparison.

Finally, Mike let out a scoff. "Fine, then..." he said in a low voice, his fists clenched, "If you won't confess to it..."

He proceeded to lift his left arm up, brandishing his duel disk before Liam in a threatening manner. "Then I guess I'll just have to _duel_ the truth out of you!"

Liam took a moment to observe Mike's composure, before letting out a reluctant sigh. "Seems you're not giving me a choice," he said as he paced a few steps forward, raising his own duel disk arm, "Though I would've preferred to save our rematch for the Pro Circuit like we'd agreed; but I can see there's no talking you out of this."

As the two duel disks sparked to life, Danny's eyes widened with realization of what was about to happen before saying, "I think we might all wanna back up a bit for this..."

Violet, Marina, and Josiah all nodded in agreement, before they began pacing a good distance away from their friend and the Cyber Style master. But as they did, Josiah was the only one with confusion still on his face as he asked, "Wait, so does anybody wanna tell me what the hell's going on? 'Cause I understood NONE of what they were just talking about."

"Sorry man, but that story's a bit hard to TL;DR right now," was all Danny could think to answer with.

The friends now stopped a good distance away from the two duelists, turning back to watch as Mike and Liam dealt their first five cards, their eyes fiercely locked as they cried out in unison: "LET'S DUEL!"

 **[Mike - LP: 8000]**

 **[Liam - LP: 8000]**

"Since you're the challenger this time around, I think I'll take the first move!" Liam proclaimed as he drew, "And I'll begin by summoning my Cyber Dragon Core to the field!"

 **[Cyber Dragon Core - LV: 2/ATK: 400]**

"And when it's normal summoned," Liam explained, "Its effect allows me to add a 'Cyber' spell or trap card from my deck to my hand. So I'll take my Cyber Repair Plant!"

He took the card from where it had popped out of his deck before continuing: "Next, I'll set two cards face down before ending my turn. Now let's see what you've got, Mike."

"You asked for it!" Mike said with ferocity as he drew, "I'll start by summoning my Constellar Algiedi!"

 **[Constellar Algiedi - LV: 4/ATK: 1600]**

"And his effect also activates when he's normal summoned!" he explained, "Now I can special summon the Constellar Kaus that's also in my hand!"

 **[Constellar Kaus - LV: 4/ATK: 1800]**

"Then I'll activate Kaus's effect, which'll raise the LVs of both himself and Algiedi to 5!"

 **[Constellar Algiedi - LV: 5]**

 **[Constellar Kaus - LV: 5]**

"And with that, I'll now overlay them to build the overlay network!" Mike exclaimed as a spatial portal opened on his field, absorbing the two monsters, "To Xyz summon Constellar Pleiades!"

 **[Constellar Pleiades - RK: 5/ATK: 2500]**

Liam's eyes lit up with interest as he looked to the star-studded warrior on Mike's field. "Constellar Pleiades..." he said with a more serious tone, "That was _his_ deck, wasn't it? So he didn't survive the battle after all...?"

Mike ignored Liam's ponderings before continuing: "Now I'll use my Pleiades's effect! By detaching an overlay unit, your Cyber Dragon Core gets sent back to your hand!"

The small dragon disappeared from Liam's field; however he seemed unfazed by this development as Mike then said, "And with that out of the way, my Pleiades can now attack you directly!"

Pleiades took up its sword and dashed towards Liam, slashing at him with enough force to make him stagger as his LP took the first hit.

 **[Liam - LP: 5500]**

"Heh... not a bad start, Mike," Liam mused as he watched Pleiades hover back to Mike's field, "Though I have to admit, I'm surprised you didn't try to _really_ hurt me with that attack, given how much of a grudge you seem to be holding against me right now."

"Believe me, I was considering it," Mike shot back, "So maybe you'd like to tell me what I want to hear now, before I change my mind."

Liam shook his head. "I already told you, I don't know _anything_ about the Romans, or your missing friend," he insisted, "I'm sorry."

Mike's glare only hardened at these words. "No... not yet, you're not," he said darkly as he set a card into his duel disk, "I set a card face down, and end my turn."

"Back to me, then," Liam said as he drew his next card, "And I'll first reveal my own set card, Karma Cut!

"So in exchange for discarding the Cyber Dragon Core that you returned to my hand," he explained as he discarded the monster, "This trap banishes your Pleiades from the game!"

A vortex opened behind Pleiades with a whistling howl, taking Mike's warrior by surprise as he was drawn into its depths, disappearing in the blink of an eye before the vortex closed.

"Wait, hold on..." Josiah spoke up with confusion, "He could've used that Karma Cut trap to prevent Mike from attacking directly last turn, couldn't he? So why'd he wait until now to use it?"

"Because he's toying with him."

All heads turned to Danny with surprise as he explained, "Think about it: Liam's not just any other Pro duelist; he's a member of the Cyber Style clan. That deck of his probably has more power than he knows what to do with, and I could tell he was using that power to go all-out against that Gavin guy earlier.

"So the fact that he's started so weakly against Mike so far," he said as he shot a concerned glance to his best friend, "Means he's either got some bigger strategy up his sleeve, or that he hasn't been taking this duel seriously yet..."

The same realizations were racing through Mike's mind as well, bringing an irate expression to his face as Liam continued: "Now, I'll activate the effect of the Cyber Dragon Core I just discarded: with no monsters on my field, I can banish it from the graveyard to special summon a Cyber Dragon monster from my deck!

"So come forth!" he said, taking the card that had popped out from his deck, "Cyber Dragon Zwei!"

 **[Cyber Dragon Zwei - LV: 4/ATK: 1500]**

"Then I'll use Zwei's effect to reveal the Cyber Repair Plant that I added to my hand last turn," Liam said, flipping the card to reveal it, "And by doing so, my Zwei now has the ability to identify as an actual 'Cyber Dragon' for the remainder of the turn.

"Next, I'll reveal my second face down card: Cyber Network! This continuous trap can only activate its effect once per turn, while I control a Cyber Dragon. And since my Zwei currently counts as one, I'll use this trap's effect to banish an _actual_ Cyber Dragon from my deck!"

Mike arched an eyebrow with surprise as he watched Liam take the Cyber Dragon from his deck, before he went on: "Now, since I've yet to normal summon a monster this turn, I'll take this opportunity to summon my Cyber Dragon Drei to the field!"

 **[Cyber Dragon Drei - LV: 4/ATK: 1800]**

"And I'm sure you're familiar with his effect," Liam said with a confident grin, "Like your Kaus, he also raises the LVs of all my Cyber Dragons to 5!"

 **[Cyber Dragon Zwei - LV: 5]**

 **[Cyber Dragon Drei - LV: 5]**

"And with that done, I'll now overlay my two dragons to build the overlay network as well!" Liam cried out as his two monsters were also absorbed into a spatial portal, "And with them, I Xyz summon Cyber Dragon Nova!"

 **[Cyber Dragon Nova - RK: 5/ATK: 2100]**

Stunned gasps escaped from the friends on the sidelines as Liam's ace monster took to the field. Mike, on the other hand, only eyed the mechanized menace through narrowed slits as he took up a defensive stance, muttering, "Oh, this isn't good..."

"Now, allow me to repay the assault you waged on my LP last turn!" Liam exclaimed as he pointed to Mike, "Cyber Dragon Nova, direct attack!"

The dragon took to the sky, unhinging its jaw to let loose a blast of blue energy towards Mike, who raised his arms to shield his eyes from the blinding light of the attack as it engulfed him.

 **[Mike - LP: 5900]**

The light of the attack faded as quickly as it had appeared, bringing Mike back into view as his arms fell back to his sides, while Liam concluded: "With that, I'll now set another card face down before ending my turn."

The cards materialized on Liam's field, before he then aimed a discontented glance at his opponent. "I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed with you so far, Mike," he told him, "I seem to remember you promising to give me a _real_ duel when we next faced off."

"Tch..." Mike growled as he regained his composure, "Well if it's a real duel you want..."

He drew his card with a swift motion of his arm as he shouted, " _Then it's a real duel you'll get!_ "

As he now looked over the cards in his hand, worry was beginning to spread across the faces of the four friends on the sidelines. "Mike's starting to get seriously riled up..." Marina commented with a frown, "He never gets like this."

"You're telling me," Josiah agreed, "Even at my worst, I don't think I've ever seen him this pissed..."

Danny's fists were balled, but he remained silent as he shot a glance over to Violet, whose face was twisted with grief the likes he hadn't seen since the early days of Mike's disappearance. And he couldn't blame her; seeing her lifelong love agonizing in his anger—much less over the girl that had gotten her all twisted up only a few weeks earlier—must have been crushing for her to watch...

Back in the duel, Mike finally said, "Alright, I'm starting with my Constellar Star Chart continuous spell! So whenever I Xyz summon a Constellar monster, I'll be able to draw another card!

"Then, I'll summon my Constellar Leonis!" he continued.

 **[Constellar Leonis - LV: 3/ATK: 1000]**

"And he's got an effect that lets me normal summon a second Constellar monster once per turn! So I'll also call out my Constellar Sheratan!"

 **[Constellar Sheratan - LV: 3/ATK: 700]**

"And once he hits the field, I'm allowed to add a Constellar monster—like my Constellar Pollux—to my hand!" he said as he took the card from his deck.

"And with that done, I'll now overlay my Leonis and Sheratan to build the overlay network again!" Mike declared as his two monsters came together in another spatial portal, "And Xyz summon my Constellar Hyades!"

 **[Constellar Hyades - RK: 3/ATK: 1900]**

"And it's at this moment that my Star Chart triggers," Mike reminded everyone, "Letting me draw another card!"

Confusion spread across Liam's face as Mike drew his card. "So you managed to draw an extra card, but so what?" he asked, "Your Hyades still lacks the sufficient ATK needed to overpower my Nova."

"That won't matter thanks to his effect!" Mike retorted, "By detaching an overlay unit, Hyades can force your Dragon to switch into DEF mode!"

 **[Cyber Dragon Nova - DEF: 1600]**

Liam watched his dragon curl its tail inwards as Mike went on: "Next, I'll reveal my Xyz Meteor trap! This card grants my Hyades the ability to deal piercing damage if he attacks a DEF mode monster this turn!"

"Oh, awesome!" Danny said as he pumped his arm ecstatically, "So not only can Mike destroy that Cyber Dragon Nova, but he'll be dealing a little bit of damage while he does!"

"Actually, I plan on dealing more than just a 'little bit' of damage, Danny!" Mike corrected his best friend, "With the help of a quick-play spell I like to call Blind Spot Strike! This card gives an ATK point boost to one monster on my field, equal to that of the DEF points of a DEF mode monster on my opponent's field! So Hyades now gains Nova's 1600 DEF as ATK!"

 **[Constellar Hyades - ATK: 3500]**

"Now, Hyades!" Mike cried out as he pointed to Liam's monster, "Take down that Cyber Dragon Nova!"

Hyades took up his dual-wield blades and began his charge towards Liam's dragon, but only cleared about half the space between them before Liam countered: "I reveal my Half-Unbreak trap card! With it, not only will my dragon _not_ be destroyed in this battle, but the damage I'll take from your attack is also halved!"

Not a second passed between Liam finishing his sentence and Hyades's swords reaching Nova's steel exterior; however the two strikes merely deflected off of the dragon's surface, eliciting an annoyed, mechanical growl from the beast.

 **[Liam - LP: 4550]**

But as the two monsters collided, there was an unexpected side effect that took almost everyone by surprise: a pulse of energy seemed to emanate from the epicenter of the attack, which rushed at everyone all at once as an invisible force momentarily pushing against their chests, making the hairs on their bodies stand on edge as their eyes widened with realization.

"Okay, guys...?" Josiah was the first one to shakily speak up, "Someone please tell me why I just _felt_ the impact of that attack...?"

Danny let out an overwhelmed sigh. "Alright, how do I put this..." he figured, "Okay, look, Mike's got superpowers that can turn Duel Monsters' damage real, and I'll bet dollars to donuts that Liam's also got the same kinda power as well."

As expected, Josiah shot the most unbelieving look at Danny that he could possibly make. "Superpowers...?" he repeated with a doubtful tone, " _Real_ Duel Monsters damage? Are you even listening to yourself?"

But as he swiveled his head to look for validation from Marina and Violet, he found his own expression sinking with bewilderment as the troubled looks on their faces told him that there was truthfulness in Danny's words.

Meanwhile, Liam now watched with a darkened expression as Hyades leapt back to Mike's field. "I hate to break it to you, but trying to intimidate me by tapping into your Mark's power is a wasted effort," he said sternly, "You can't force me to tell you what I don't know."

A hiss of frustration escaped Mike's lips. "We'll see about that..." he shot back, "But for now, since you at least took some damage, my Xyz Meteor's second effect lets me draw another card!"

He drew his card, glancing at it for only a moment before letting out a disheartened grunt. "Looks like my turn's over," he finished.

"Not quite," Liam corrected him, "Lest you forget, your Blind Spot Strike's effect expires during your end phase, meaning Hyades's ATK now returns to its original value."

 **[Constellar Hyades - ATK: 1900]**

Mike's eye twitched irksomely as Liam drew his next card, saying, "Now, I think it's long past time I showed you what a _real_ duel _really_ looks like. I'll begin with switching my Nova back into ATK mode!"

 **[Cyber Dragon Nova - ATK: 2100]**

"Then, I'll activate my Foolish Burial spell card," he continued, "Which allows me to send a second Cyber Dragon Core from my deck to the graveyard!

"And now that he's there," he said as he sent the card to his graveyard, "My Nova can activate its effect to detach an overlay unit, and special summon a Cyber Dragon from my graveyard! And since the Cyber Dragon Drei I just detached is counted as 'Cyber Dragon' in the graveyard, I think I'll be bringing _that_ back!"

 **[Cyber Dragon Drei - LV: 4/ATK: 1800]**

"Next, I'll activate the effect of my Cyber Network trap again," Liam went on, "So since my Drei also counts as a 'Cyber Dragon' on the field, Cyber Network lets me banish a second Cyber Dragon from my deck!"

Mike's eyes narrowed. "I don't see what good banishing all your Cyber Dragons is gonna do for you."

"You will, all in good time," Liam assured him calmly as he removed the card from his deck, "But right now, your focus should be on my Nova and its second effect!

"By banishing my 'Cyber Dragon' Drei," he explained as the smaller dragon disappeared from his field, "He gains 2100 more ATK for the rest of the turn!"

 **[Cyber Dragon Nova - ATK: 4200]**

"Now take your vengeance, Cyber Dragon Nova!" Liam cried out as he pointed to the monster that had struck his, "Destroy Mike's Constellar Hyades!"

The mechanical beast once again unhinged its jaw, this time firing its destructive energy beam at Hyades, which only had a moment to writhe in agony before shattering with an impact that shook the asphalt beneath them.

 **[Mike - LP: 3600]**

The tremors stole Mike's footing, forcing him onto one knee as he attempted to brace himself from the impact of the blast. On the sidelines, the four friends all grasped to each other as they struggled to stay balanced. Their panicked cries were barely audible over the violent rumbling of the ground as the vehicles around them shook, and the lights of the overhead lampposts flickered.

It wasn't long before the tremors finally ceased, allowing Mike to bring himself back to full height as he heard Liam say, "Now, are you finally ready to listen to reason, Mike? Or are you going to _make_ me crush you on my next turn?"

A hiss escaped Mike's lips as he managed to replant his feet. "The only one who's going to bd crushed is you..." he shot back, "And when you are, you're gonna drop this innocent facade and tell me exactly where you and the Romans are keeping my friend!"

Liam was silent for a moment as he stared back at Mike, before letting out a contemptuous sigh. "Guess there really is no getting through to you..." he figured, "I move on to my main phase two, and activate my Cyber Repair Plant spell, which adds my third and final Cyber Dragon from my deck to my hand!"

He took the card from his deck, before concluding: "Finally, I'll set two more cards face down before ending my turn."

 **[Cyber Dragon Nova - ATK: 2100]**

As the set cards materialized, the four friends on the sidelines now looked to Mike with anxious expressions. "Not for nothing, guys; but I'm starting to wonder if Mike'll actually be able to win against Liam..." Josiah said with uncertainty.

"Hey, don't count Mike outta this match yet," Danny upheld his enthusiasm, "Just wait, I guarantee you he's gonna find a way to turn this around!"

Back in the duel, Mike now let out a heavy breath as he tried to calm his posture. _'He's managed to stay one step ahead of me every turn...'_ he silently figured, _'So I need to draw something that'll win it for me this turn... otherwise, I may never get the truth out of him... and I won't be able to save her...'_

"It's... _MY TURN!_ " he fervently declared as he drew his final card, before glancing to see what he had pulled.

 _'Perfect...!'_

"I'll start by summoning my Constellar Pollux!" Mike began, a renewed vigor in his voice.

 **[Constellar Pollux - LV: 4/ATK: 1700]**

"And like my Leonis, his effect allows me to normal summon another Constellar monster while he's out on the field!" Mike explained, "So come on out, Constellar Rasalhague!"

 **[Constellar Rasalhague - LV: 2/ATK: 900]**

"Then I'll use this little guy's effect," he continued as the monster vanished in a shimmer of stardust, "By releasing him, I can revive another Constellar monster that's sleeping in my graveyard! And the monster I'm reviving is my Constellar Algiedi!"

 **[Constellar Algiedi - LV: 4/ATK: 1600]**

"And now, I'll use these two to build the overlay network one more time, and Xyz summon!" Mike exclaimed as his monsters were swallowed by yet another spatial portal, "Now come forth, Starliege Paladynamo!"

 **[Starliege Paladynamo - RK: 4/ATK: 2000]**

Liam's eyebrows rose. "Starliege Paladynamo?" he repeated with curiosity, "Can't say I've ever seen that monster before."

"Then allow me to acquaint you with him," Mike retorted, "By detaching both of his overlay units, he's got the ability to drain away all of your Nova's effects and ATK!"

 **[Cyber Dragon Nova - ATK: 0]**

"There it is!" Danny exclaimed ecstatically, "Now that Nova's got no chance!"

"But I'm not done yet," Mike continued, "I'll also equip my Megamorph spell card to him, which doubles his ATK power since my LP are lower than yours!"

 **[Starliege Paladynamo - ATK: 4000]**

"And then, to add insult to injury, I've got one more spell for you!" Mike cried out, "I use Blustering Winds, which gives my Paladynamo _another_ 1000 ATK until the end of your next turn!"

 **[Starliege Paladynamo - ATK: 5000]**

"5000 ATK points?!" Marina gasped, "But with that kind of power...!"

"Mike can end this duel with just one more attack..." Josiah figured with incredulity.

"See?! I told ya he could do it!" Danny boasted with a broad grin.

Meanwhile, Liam's eyes widened with realization as Mike ardently cried, "Now go, Starliege Paladynamo! Put down his Cyber Dragon Nova and end this duel!"

Paladynamo took up his spatial sword and leapt towards Nova, winding his weapon up for an all-out strike before swinging down on Liam's dragon. The explosion that ensued sent the most powerful shockwave through the entire parking lot so far: the friends on the sidelines were forced to once again grasp to each other, their collective weight keeping them from being carried away by the explosion's gusts. Nearly all of the vehicles around them rattled violently, so much so that even a few of their alarms began to sound off. Above them, many of the lampposts groaned under the extreme pressure of the explosion, with many of their lights flickering wildly before dying out, leaving that space in the parking lot in darkness.

Eventually, the chaos subsided, leaving only a heavy cloud of smoke where Liam's Nova once was as Starliege Paladynamo floated back to Mike's side of the field. On the sidelines, everyone now let go of each other as they looked back to the duel with wide eyes.

There stood Mike, panting heavily from the energy that he'd exerted from using his Mark's power. But now, for the first time in this entire duel, a small victory smile had finally appeared on his face as he looked to his opponent's now-barren field.

"It's over, Liam..." he exhaled with relief, "I win."

"... are you sure about that?"

Shock replaced the smile on Mike's face as the smoke hanging over Liam's field began to clear, the light of an activated trap card breaking through the darkness as he heard Liam say: "I'll admit, that last attack of yours _was_ rather impressive. But I'm afraid your efforts were all for naught."

Stifled gasps escaped Mike's throat as the smoke lifted entirely, revealing Liam's previously-set card as he explained: "Before your attack hit, I played my Defense Draw trap card. Not only does it cancel out the damage from your attack, but it also permits me to draw an extra card."

The shock on Mike's face now spread to the faces of his friends on the sidelines. Never before had any of them ever seen a victory of Mike's stolen away from him so easily. All of them—especially Violet—could feel pain tearing into their chests as they watched Mike's arms drop defeatedly to his sides, his head bowed as as he struggled to wrestle back tears.

"Damn... it... damn it...!" he choked out, "God... damn it, Liam! Just fess up and tell me you had something to do with it!"

Now Liam rolled his eyes. "I won't keep repeating myself about this, Mike," he shot back, "You've had the wrong guy this whole time—"

"YOU'RE LYING!" Mike raged, the outburst bringing taken-aback expressions to everyone as he forfeited to his rage, "FOR GOD'S SAKE, JUST ADMIT IT ALREADY! TELL ME WHAT YOU AND THE ROMANS HAVE DONE WITH HER! TELL ME WHERE IT IS YOU'RE KEEPING CASEY!"

Violet practically felt her heart stop when she finally heard Mike say his missing friend's name. As for Liam, his face now adorned a commiserating look as he swallowed hard. "Casey... you mean that girl you were close to back in Frontier Haven...?" he asked, "She's the one they took?"

Mike opened his mouth to answer, but he couldn't find his voice. His hard, angered glare had been reduced to a look of pleading desperation, wanting nothing more than to hear Liam say something that could help him find Casey.

On the sidelines, the others could only watch on with forlorn expressions as they struggled to process what they were hearing. Violet was especially pained amongst them, her soul aching as the name of Mike's missing friend tore a hole into her heart. And Liam's words about her being the 'girl he was close to back in Frontier Haven' especially didn't help her feel much better in that moment.

Now, Liam could only let out a plaintive sigh. "I am truly sorry, Mike..." he said with as much sincereity as he could muster, "But I _swear_ to you, on my family's legacy, that I had no such part in the Romans taking her. Hell, if I had known anything, I would've told you about it right from the start."

Mike's breathing was shaky as he took in Liam's words, finally allowing himself to hear the truth behind them as he dropped his gaze, trying to hide his shame. So all this time, he really had been trying to force an answer out of Liam that he didn't have...

As Mike continued to stifle his tears, Liam now lifted up his duel disk arm again. "From the looks of it, I'd say your turn's just about reached its end," he figured, "So before it does, I'll reveal my Twin Twisters quick-play spell."

The set card flipped on Liam's field as he explained, "Now by discarding the card I just drew, I can destroy up to two spell or trap cards on the field. So I'll destroy both your Megamorph and my Cyber Network."

The two cards shattered in brief gusts of wind, before Liam continued: "With your Megamorph gone, your Paladynamo loses its doubled-ATK power bonus."

 **[Starliege Paladynamo - ATK: 3000]**

"Then, since my Cyber Network has been sent to the graveyard," he went on, "The two Cyber Dragons that I banished with its effect are now special summoned back to my field!"

 **[Cyber Dragon - LV: 5/ATK: 2100]**

 **[Cyber Dragon - LV: 5/ATK: 2100]**

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me...!" Danny muttered, "He weakened Mike's Paladynamo _and_ brought out two Cyber Dragons?!"

Mike was reactionless as he looked to the two new monsters on Liam's field. At this point, his reactive senses had all but given up on him, and there was no more strength in him to continue the duel even if he'd wanted to.

"Now it's my turn again," Liam said as he put a finger to his deck, "And given how this duel has progressed so far, I've a feeling that I know exactly what I'm about to draw..."

He drew his card, his eyes narrowing as it came into sight. "Just as I thought..." he figured, "I now activate the spell card, Power Bond!"

A swirling vortex appeared on Liam's field as he explained, "With this card, I'll merge the two Cyber Dragons on my field with the one that's in my hand!"

A third Cyber Dragon appeared on Liam's field, before all three mechs were swallowed by the swirling portal. Moments later, the vortex was engulfed in a pillar of blinding light that stretched to the heavens.

"Now witness the ultimate power of the Cyber style legacy!" Liam cried out as, from the pillar, emerged a gigantic, three-headed mech about half as tall as the nearby stadium, "I Fusion summon my Cyber End Dragon!"

 **[Cyber End Dragon - LV: 10/ATK: 4000]**

The dragon let out a low, mechanical growl that sent chills down everyone's spines on the sidelines as they stared up at the massive monster with awe. "C-Cyber End Dragon...?!" Danny stammered out, "I-I'd heard that card was supposed to be a myth…!"

"Well, that 'myth' looks like it's ready to completely obliterate Mike!" was Marina's response.

"Guys, relax!" Josiah tried to assure them, "Remember, that thing's only got 4000 ATK. Even if he destroys Mike's Paladynamo, it'll only hit him for 1000 damage, so he'll still be in this duel. And thanks to Paladynamo's destruction-draw effect, he'll start next turn off with two cards in his hand to prepare a counterattack!"

"I'm afraid that's just wishful thinking, actually," Liam's voice echoed out, gaining the four friends' attention, "Because in case you weren't aware, any monster that's special summoned via the effect of Power Bond, has its ATK _doubled_."

 **[Cyber End Dragon - ATK: 8000]**

Everyone's jaws hit the pavement now as it became painfully clear who would be walking away from this duel victoriously. Mike, meanwhile, could only look up to the colossal dragon before him with a pained stare as his eyes went wide.

"This is the end, Mike," Liam said solemnly, before aiming a finger at the latter's last monster, "Now, Cyber End Dragon! Eliminate his Starliege Paladynamo and the rest of his LP!"

Bright, blue energy orbs began charging in each of the tri-headed dragon's jaws, before simultaneously unleashing their attacks. The three blasts collided into each other to form an enormous giga-blast, which evaporated Starliege Paladyanmo into nothingness before hitting Mike with the force of a meteorite crashing to earth.

Mike only heard the despaired cries of his friends for an instant before the energy blast swallowed him. He felt his feet leave the pavement beneath him as he was launched from where he'd been standing, pain surging through his body as his mind brought him back to a memory that he'd been suppressing in the deepest depths of his mind...

* * *

 ** _\- FLASHBACK -_**

Mike landed hard in the sand from the direct attack Liam's Cyber Dragon Nova had launched on him, the light that he'd been engulfed in vanishing as quickly as it had appeared as his dazed mind struggled to make sense of what had just happened.

 **[Mike - LP: 0]**

 **[Winner: Liam]**

"Mike!"

Somewhere, he could faintly hear Casey and Aeron's voices calling out to him as he tried to reorient his senses. Despite his eyes being wide with shock, his vision had gone blurry from the immense light of Cyber Dragon Nova's blast, and the only other thing he could hear was a slight ringing in his ears. A few moments later, he could faintly make out the outlines and shuffles of both Casey and Aeron moving to his sides.

"Hey, you alright?" he finally heard Aeron ask him.

"Y-yeah..." he managed to say as he finally found his strength, rolling over to bring himself to a sitting position as he looked to where he knew his opponent was standing. Though his vision was only just beginning to come into focus again, it seemed to him like Liam was standing right before him, looming over him intimidatingly with an unmistakable look of condescending disappointment on his face.

"Don't tell me that's it?" he heard Liam say, " _That's_ the power you used to take down Keir? Tell me this is some kind of joke."

Mike's eyes flickered with resent to that comment. As much as he wanted to retort with something to come back to Liam's superciliousness, the fact remained that he'd just had his ass royally handed to him. There wasn't one move he'd made that Liam hadn't seemed to anticipate and prepare a counter for. His dueling was a stark contrast to the overwhelming power that Aeron had been pitting against him in their days of training together.

As Mike remained silent, Cyber Dragon Nova now disappeared from Liam's field, and their duel disks' deactivation prompted Liam to replace his own back in his hip-slung holster as he let out a huff. "I guess not, then; your beating Keir really _was_ just a fluke," he figured, "You're not anything special after all."

And with that, Liam turned and began making his way back towards Frontier Haven's gate, his opened jacket flapping behind him in the mild desert wind with every step he took. Meanwhile, Mike finally managed to bring himself back to a standing position as Casey put a hand to his shoulder. "Hey, don't listen to him," she said, "He just managed to catch you off-guard."

"No..." Mike muttered back, "No, that wasn't just catching me off-guard."

A look of concern came to Casey's face as Mike continued to eye the departing, brown-coated stranger that had eviscerated his pride as a duelist. After having survived all of Aeron's training, his duel with Keir, and spending the last few months training to become stronger to survive whatever was next... all of it had amounted to just about nothing against that guy...

He let out a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry..." he said as he brushed Casey's hand off of him, "But I need to be alone right now."

Casey and Aeron watched as Mike proceeded to walk back towards Frontier Haven as well, his head hung and his movements slow and weary as he paced along. As he became more and more distant to their line of sight, Casey now turned her concerned expression to Aeron, who met her eyes with an almost-indifferent expression, save for what looked like the slightest hint of sympathy in his crimson eyes...

 ** _\- FLASHBACK END -_**

* * *

Mike eventually hit the asphalt with a loud thud, eliciting anguished groans and cries from him as he was sent tumbling along the hard, gravelly ground of the darkened lot, before coming to a rough stop on his back that knocked the wind out of him.

 **[Mike - LP: 0]**

 **[Winner: Liam]**

Almost all of his pain receptors were screaming from the abuse his body had taken from his rough landing. He could feel where every cut and scratch had been left on his body, and his lungs felt like they were on fire as he desperately tried to catch his breath again.

"OH MY GOD, MIKE!" he heard Violet horrifically scream from a fair distance away, before hearing the sound of the four friends' footsteps as they rushed towards him.

Danny skidded to a stop beside him first, followed by Josiah as they knelt down on each side of his sides. "Hey man, hang in there..." Danny said with urgency in his tone.

Marina was left to hold Violet in her arms, the latter shaking as both hands covered her mouth, trying to keep herself from hyperventilating.

But to their relief, it wasn't long before Mike finally managed to give a long gasp, followed by letting out short pants as he felt the pain in his body beginning to incrementally sting less. Josiah and Liam now put their hands to Mike's back, carefully helping him to sit up.

"I'm... alright..." Mike groaned as he planted his hands, managing to holding himself up as Josiah and Danny backed up to give him room.

"You sure, man?" Josiah asked, looking Mike up and down to observe his condition.

Mike only nodded, before reaching a hand up to silently ask for help standing. Danny quickly obliged as he grasped his best friend's hand in his own, pulling him up as Mike let out pained groans from how sore his body was.

Though he eventually managed to reach his full height again, he still felt somewhat wobbly and weak. Noticing this, Violet quickly rushed to him, gently catching him in her arms as she helped him stay upright. "Don't push yourself too hard," she told him.

"Yeah man, seriously _,"_ Josiah agreed, "You're lucky to not have broken anything after a haul like that."

Mike shook his head wearily, trying to shake his dizziness off. As he did so, however, he and the others heard the sound of approaching footsteps, prompting them to look as Liam approached them, his duel disk deactivated and his Cyber End Dragon no longer hovering behind him.

"Looks like you're alright," he stated observantly, "That's good."

Danny scoffed. "Are you seriously gonna stand there and say that you didn't mean to have your dragon toss Mike like a rag doll?!"

"Actually, quite the contrary," Liam corrected him, "That _was_ my intention, because I wanted him to remember this."

"Remember... what...?" Mike muttered weakly.

" _Why_ you lost," Liam retorted harshly, "You promised that you'd give me a real duel the next time we faced off, but you weren't able to deliver because you let your emotions get the better of you."

Mike's eyes widened as Liam continued: "You let yourself become so consumed by your anger that you lost sight of your goal. You abandoned strategy and rational thought to rely on brute force and all-out attacks fueled by your blind rage—an error I would've expected more from the you that I fought two years ago.

"And if _that's_ how you plan on dueling when you finally find the Romans..." he said as his eyes narrowed, "Then you'll never be able to save Casey."

Mike felt those words sink into him like a knife as Liam turned his back to the five friends. "The next time we face off, Mike..." he said sternly, "It had better be in the Pro Circuit, when you're finally ready to give me a _real_ duel."

He began pacing away from them without another word, ascending the steps back towards the stadium as the others watched on, struggling as they tried to stomach everything they had just witnessed. But while everyone else's gazes were fixated on Liam, Violet kept her own eyes on Mike, watching as a single tear finally managed to escape from beneath his bangs, silently trickling down his face before falling to the cold, hard pavement below.

* * *

 **Next Time**

 **Chapter 14: "Weakness"**

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

 _Hey guys, TLA here. Sorry I'm posting this so late, but I fully intended on getting this thing out tonight and I had a lot on my plate to do first. ._._

 _I'm also sorry to leave this chapter on a more somber and sad note, but... well, that was kinda the idea. xD That said, I'll put the blame on why it took me longer than I thought it would to write this chapter on my inability to really capture the emotion I wanted to put in this, which I (hopefully) managed to do after forever and a half. If I did, please lemme know, and if I didn't quite nail it_ _down, lemme know how I could do so better. ^^_

 _Onto talking about this chapter... a bit shorter than my regular work, especially since this is a relatively shorter duel than I usually write, but I'm working to try and shorthand my chapters a bit without losing quality. Also, we've finally reached Mike's first present-day loss... which brings us to finally taking Mike to Developmental Avenue... and yeah. o_o Honestly, I wish I had more to say about this chapter, but there really isn't much else to it, and I'm very physically and emotionally drained at the moment. So I think I just won't bother. xD_

 _Anyways, thanks for reading, as always. Today's usual shout-outs go to Master Of Anime224 for the beta work; as well as my buddy Sunflesh, who came in to help me tidy the rest of it up near the end. I also had a few real-life friends dig into this chapter for me as well, so my thanks go out to them as well._

 _Now, onto this week's **Chapterly Question: theorize on how Mike came to take up his Constellar deck that he uses in present-day. Do you think he got it from somewhere, or someone, in particular? Any hints I've dropped in the story so far that could back up a theory? Lemme know!**_

 _With that all said, I thank you once again for reading. I'll see y'all when the next chapter drops; and as always, stay awesome._

* * *

 ** _\- Publication Date: Aug. 16, 2017 -_**


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